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| photo courtesy Brenda Sexton |
The Enumclaw High School Girls Water Polo Team clinched the
East Division Championship of the Girls Water Polo League on Monday, May 7, with an 18-7 win over Auburn
Mountainview. The win clinches the
Hornets a berth in the State water polo championship tournament, held May
16-19.
The Hornets were undefeated (12-0) in league play this season, and
have an 18-1 overall record, with the team’s only loss coming to a club program
from Chehalem, OR.
Enumclaw’s success is remarkable, in part, because they have
done it with only nine players on their roster – seniors Annie Birklid and
Hannah Kinniburgh, juniors Allie and Katie Larrea, and Bella Davenport,
sophomore Megan Lesmeister, and freshmen Bailey Sexton, Haley Sonneson, and
Madi Woodall.
Water polo has six field players and a goalkeeper playing,
so the Hornet squad has only two subs on their best day. Most high school teams have 12-15
players on their roster.
In Monday’s game, the Hornets stretched a 4-2 first quarter
lead to 8-3 at halftime, and 13-3 after three quarters. Scoring for Enumclaw were Katie Larrea
with eight goals, Allie Larrea with six, Hannah Kinniburgh with two, and Bailey
Sexton and Annie Birklid with one goal each. For Auburn Mountainview, Amanda Nuttall
and Avalon Lanz each scored three, and Savanna Christenson scored one.
The Hornets travel to Tacoma’s Wilson High School tomorrow
for a 5:30 game, and host Puyallup at 4:30 on Thursday.
