SD Prep Sports

SD Prep Sports: Boys Water Polo

Hilltop peaks in 11-5 win against Titans

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Oct. 14, 2003 -- It would be quite appropriate to say that both the Hilltop and Eastlake high school boys water polo teams have enjoyed seasons befitting one long roller coaster ride -- one filled with far more valleys and peaks.

Pictured at right: Hilltop's Nick Davidson, a surprise starter.

Hilltop finally reached the top of the curve in Tuesday's Metro Conference game against Eastlake while the Titans found themselves on the descending end in an 11-5 Lancer victory at the Loma Verde pool.

"We came in more confident and played the game smart," said surprise starter Nick Davidson, who just a week earlier had been tentatively ruled out of the Hilltop lineup for the rest of the season with a rotator cuff injury that might even require surgery.

Just having Davidson (in or out on a game-to-game basis now) in the water had to be a huge psychological lift for the Lancers, who had often proven their own worst enemy at critical junctures of games this season.

Hilltop played with that confidence, especially in the face of some early adversity that saw the Lancers charged with nine foul ejections overall in the contest. Hilltop (5-10) had three ejections alone in the first quarter and seven ejections by halftime but gave up only two man-disadvantage goal due to an aggressive defense but primarily due to the blocking ability of goalie Fernando Yates (8 saves).

Meanwhile, Davidson helped raise the Lancers' game up a notch both offensively and defensively. He scored the only two goals of the first quarter, including the game's jump goal on a power play and converted a steal into a goal for an early 4-0 Hilltop lead. Davidson finished the game with four goals while winning all four sprints.

At left: Eastlake's Dain Laverty is defended by Hilltop's Greg Felix.

Corey Fix also put together his best game of the season for the Lancers by scoring three goals, including two "in-your-face" scores on scrambles in front of the cage. That personal-best perofmance was clearly needed as senior scoring leader Kyle Kovar fouled out early in the third period with Hilltop nursing a 6-4 lead.

Garrett Boyle (one goal, four assists) and Matt Chism (one goal, three assists) also chipped in as key contributors for the Lancers, who ended the third quarter with a run of three unanswered goals to lead 9-4.

Kovar, who finished duty with a goal and two assists, set up both of Davidson's first-period scores.

"We needed to capitalize more on our man-up opportunities. They did a good job of blocking them. That was the factor in the game," said Eastlake coach Lonny Wood, whose team fought back from an early four-goal deficit to trail by two goals on three separate occasions in the middle part of the contest.

"We had to patience to draw the ejections. We need to capitalize on them. We needed more patience on our perimeter passing. We needed to give their goalie more of a workout," Wood said.

James Hiney (pictured at right) led the Titans (5-10) with two goals while Sam Gottlieb, Dain Laverty and Max Lopez each scored one goal. Both Eastlake goals in the second half of play came while on the power play but Hilltop countered them with six goals of its own, including two man-up tallies.

For the game, the Lancers scored four times on six Titan ejections.

Both teams were coming off 0-2 performances in Monday' opening round of the San Diego Open tournament. Hilltop chipped away at a four-goal deficit entering the final period against Steele Canyon to fall just short in a 6-5 loss before absorbing a 17-6 setback to West Hills. Eastlake dropped contests to USDHS and Westview by scores of 16-6 and 17-6, respectively.

Both Hilltop and Eastlake are 1-1 in league play.

Notepad

Greg Felix scored Hilltop's fifth goal to put the hosts up 5-2. The Lancers won the JV contest by a 16-7 score. Andrew Andripolous led Hilltop with seven goals while Boyle, Nick Kennedy, Nicko Fix and Srihari Peespati each scored twice.