The good news is that there are still plenty of games left this season for the Emerald Ridge Jaguars Water Polo team.
The bad news is they didn’t start the season off on the right foot, falling 10-5 against Auburn Riverside on March 14 at Rogers High School.
“We had a lot of nerves today and I think we got that out of us,” Jaguars coach Dave McMullan said. “We were a senior dominated team last year and this year we have a lot of players who are filling new roles.”
Senior Mandi Nyland scored a team-high two goals for the Jags. Junior Callie Hyman, senior Kate Gibson and Lauren Gonick chipped in one goal apiece in the opening contest of the season as well.
After Auburn Riverside took a 4-1 lead with 3:57 remaining in the second period, Emerald Ridge refused to go away quietly, scoring two goals (Gibson and Hyman) in the next three minutes cutting Auburn Riverside’s lead to 4-3 with one minute left in the second quarter. Unfortunately for Emerald Ridge, Auburn Riverside found the back of Jaguar’s net twice in the final minute extending their lead to 6-3 at halftime. The one point differential late in the second quarter was the closest the Jaguars would get the rest of the way.
McMullan is confident his team has the ability to be one of the better teams in the area as the season wears on.
“You can’t just go off of the first game. I think when we get deeper into the season we’ll get better,” McMullan said. “We’re a team that is up for the challenge. We’re already playing good defense. Overall for our first game we did pretty well because of a lot of players were getting their first experience in the sport of Water Polo.”
Senior Lauren Gonick, who scored her lone goal of the contest as time expired at the end of the third quarter, is excited about the prospects of her team this year.
“Last year we were a senior laden team and for our first game I thought we did pretty well working together,” Gonick said. “It’s only the first game. We got a whole season to go. We can learn a lot from our mistakes in his game and do even better the next time we’re in the pool.”
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