The Enumclaw High School girls water polo team began its drive for a third straight Eastern Division championship with two wins over league opponents.
The Hornets beat Sumner 20-4 in the season’s first game March 11 at the Enumclaw Aquatic Center. The Hornets had a balanced attack, with all 11 varsity players scoring, seven players with steals and six earning assists. Goalkeeper Shaye Hogerhuis had 14 saves.
Lindsay Bowden scored five goals for the Hornets and Kaitlyn Korsch added four. Liz Schmidt and Amber Morris scored two goals each and Rachel Deonigi, Erin Stucker, Kelsey Sonneson, Brooke and Breanna Flaquinti and Angie and Kelsey Brazier each added a goal.
In the assists category, Bowden had six; Korsch had three; Brooke Flaquinti and Erin Stucker each had two; and Schmidt, Sonneson and Hogerhuis had one apiece.
Bowden ran off with seven steals. Morris and Stucker each tallied three, Korsch stole two and Schmidt, Sonneson and Kelsey Brazier each had one.
Friday the Hornets picked up their second home win with a 7-4 victory over Auburn Riverside.
The Ravens scored first – three minutes into the opening quarter – but Bowden tied the game a minute later on a penalty shot. The teams traded goals until Bowden scored to put the Hornets up 3-2 with 6 seconds remaining in the first half. Enumclaw maintained its lead throughout the second half.
“Riverside came out strong, but our conditioning paid off,” said coach Ken DeMan, who shares duties with Bob Averill. “Their kids looked tired in the second half and we were able to get some openings by out-swimming them.”
“They played some great defense and limited our scoring opportunities,” Averill said. “We know we have some work to do on our offense.”
Against Riverside, Bowden scored six goals and Korsch added one. Hogerhuis had 12 saves in goal, while Stucker had five steals.
The Hornets are scheduled to play four games – two league contests and two nonleague – this week. Competition started with Auburn Tuesday; results of that contest were not available at press time. Today, Wednesday, the Hornets travel to Puyallup for a 7:30 game. Bonney Lake hosts the Hornets at 3:15 p.m. Friday in Sumner and EHS heads to Tacoma for a noon game Saturday against Wilson.
EHS has rescheduled its April 23 game at Auburn Mountainview to accommodate Enumclaw’s Senior Project Presentation Night, scheduled for the same evening. The Hornets will play that game at 7 p.m. April 2 at Auburn Mountainview.
Two other games have had their start times changed; the April 28 game at Rogers will start at 3 p.m and the April 30 game at Auburn Riverside starts at 7:30 p.m.
