Reynolds prevails in rare HRV water polo double loss

Boys leaders were JJ Mears with six goals, two assists, and one steal, Cole Rothman with four goals and Pelle Bergstrom with one goal.

“While not scoring, Chad Klaas was very effective with four assists and six steals,” HRV Boys Head Coach Dave Robinson said. “While not a stat, the number of times Chad flew in to double team or play tough, physical defense, leading to turnovers and missed shots, were countless.”

Robinson, who is also the assistant coach for the girls, noted “Orr had a tough assignment in hole-defense all night and played very well with shutdown defense and timely steals while quietly logging two goals.”

Jamie Robinson, the team’s leading scorer this season, had a quiet night with only one goal but distributed seven assists on a total of 11 goals scored with her favorite targets being Finstad battling in and Ocheskey sharp-shooting from the outside. An apparent game winning goal by Robinson at the end of regulation with mere seconds left was nullified with a 2-meter penalty off the ball from a teammate. The girls went on to lose in sudden death.

The boys played another physical game which was tightly called, evidenced by a total of eight major fouls, giving Reynolds a man-up offensive situation that they converted into six goals in a tough 14-11 loss.

A player is ejected with three major fouls and three players — Rothman, Klaas and Bergstrom — played a majority of the way with two. The game was tight all the way: tied 4-4 at the quarter and 7-7 at the half. HRV went up 9-8 in the third and 10-8 before an onslaught by Reynolds led to the final score.

“I can’t say enough how each game is an amazing improvement from my young players and only bodes well for the tail end of this season and the next few years to come,” Robinson said.

Other water polo news:

Both teams bounced back Tuesday with a home match against Gresham. The girls had no problem in their game, defeating the Gophers 12-4 and the boys had their best offensive match of the season, beating Gresham 20-11.

Thursday’s game scheduled against Grant was canceled but may be made up at a later date.

The boys have an extremely busy week, hosting Centennial Tuesday at the Hood River Aquatic Center, then traveling to play Reynolds again on Wednesday, and finishing up their road trip with a match at Parkrose.

The girls will also be busy, traveling to Reynolds for a rematch on Wednesday and then are tentatively scheduled to play a nonleague game with West Albany on Friday.