American River 6 - JCWP 3

Well, the Cats again gave it a go at a California team (American River out of Sacramento) and though we battled to the end, we couldn't put together 4 quarters of intensity. In the end, not doing the little things led to three straight losses to end the tournament. Getting up big to pass, finishing each throwing motion, converting on scoring chances, keeping our hips up on defense, leaving early for defense/offense, winning 50-50 balls...little things that if executed properly, end up in a victory.

There isn't much to say about the game itself without repeating some of the things I said in the Santa Barbara, United and Shores games. We did have a lot more kickouts in this game because we wouldn't finish our counter defense, but the play of Sean Sullivan in the cage (11 saves), in addition to good field blocking neuatralized most of the Am River advantages. Sean was named player of the game.

But this post shouldn't be all negative as we had a great week. We had a lot of fun and bothe the boys and coaches learned a lot about the next level of water polo. We didn't come out to win (although it would have been nice), we came out here to learn and get better. For the most part, I'm thrilled with our performance and as Coach P said, we had a lot of close games, which is encouraging. Hopefully sometime soon, we can come out here to win.

I'll calculate the stats and post them later, but I think it's safe to say that the goalies were the tournament MVP's for us. The defense was designed to funnel outside shots to the goalie and Jake and Sean did a great job giving our guys a chance to win every game.

The rumor is that there will be a "wrap party" in the coming weeks. I'm crossing my fingers that the rumor is true. Stay tuned.

Until then, big thanks go to the parents for making this all happen. The parents who made the trip did a phenomenal job keeping the coolers filled and the cheers loud. Props to Mrs. Maloney, Mo and Grandma Smith, the Bowers', the Buelter's, the Savio's, the Tanner's, Mr. and Timmy Adcock and of course the Lewis girls. Wouldn't have been the same without you! Have a great rest of the summer y'all.