Woodbridge and Northwood were locked up in a close battle at halftime of a Pacific Coast League boys water polo match Tuesday afternoon.
The score was deadlocked 3-3 but Woodbridge broke it open with five unanswered goals in the third quarter and went on to capture a 12-7 victory at Woodbridge.
“Northwood is a very good team and at halftime, it was a defensive battle,” said Woodbridge Coach Matt Campbell. “We needed to get out and swim and counter and that’s what we were able to do in the third quarter and I think that was the difference right there.”
Woodbridge (2-0 in league) was led by Riley Pittman and Alec Isaacman, who had four goals each. Solan Kedzie had three goals for the Warriors, who were ranked eighth in Orange County and 12th in the CIF Divison 1-2 rankings.
Northwood (4-7 overall, 1-1 in league was led by Max Abravanel, who had four goals.
Northwood is hoping to battle Woodbridge and Beckman for the league title. The race won’t include league power Corona del Mar, which has moved to the Sunset League.
The Timberwolves played well in the first half but couldn’t sustain the effort in the second half.
“I think we played a great half,” said Northwood Coach Kyle Kim-E. “It was 3-3 at halftime and I think we ran out of a little bit of gas in the third period. Overall, it was a pretty good game; we just didn’t do well in the third period.
“We have a general idea of what Woodbridge’s offensive style is and we also knew that they were going to have to play heavy defense on Spencer (Sellwood) and Max so it was going to force us to shift around a little bit more.”
Woodbridge also started the third quarter strong with goals by Kedzie and Isaacman to take a 10-3 lead and was able to finish out with a strong effort.
“We’re just trying to win the league championship this year, our school has never won one,” Pittman said. “We’re just trying to get a banner up in the gym and that’s really our motivation. We didn’t start out very well but then we put it away in the second half so it was a good team victory.”
“We’re working hard at practice and doing what we need to do,” Isaacman added. “We come out here and every time we have a game we push each other to the limit so we can attain that goal (a league title).”
Isaacman said the team chemistry has helped the Warriors be successful.
“We’ve been playing for a while now and we really connect well as a team. We all motivate each other and push each other. We go through our ups and downs together but in the end we have really good chemistry and we help each other succeed.”
