Water Polo JOs Summary

Last hurrah JOs for Connor - 18s.
Benny playing 14s.
Stanford, CA

Left Avery at home cuz she's working (lifeguard at La Costa) for the summer.

Connor - 18s
Came in ranked 21, championship level. Finished 18th, platinum (top) division.
Day 1, 2nd game. vs. Vanguard Red (basically the Mater Dei team from OC)
Seeded #4 in the tournament.
Playing them tough, up a couple in the first half.  Then Vanguard starts coming back. We up 9-6, then 9-7, then 9-8 and then a 5m on us, they tie it 9-9. Can't buy a goal on our side.
Less than a minute left, we all timeout, setup a play, teams event.
We draw a 5m !!! Graham takes it, scores!  We WIN. Huge upset. Vanguard stunned.

Day 2, first game, now we're playing #5 in the country - Lamorinda, at Avery Aquatic Center.  So very cool, great way to finish out career getting to play there.
Hanging in there, down by a couple most of first half, then tied 5-5 at half. Lamo is a bit stunned.
With about 3 mins left in 4th, Murphy scores!! Tied up 7-7.  That's how it ends.
Shootout.  Lamo is missing a few, and we made 1 more then them.
Dustin is up - HELICOPTER!! Are you kidding me. Blocked.
Then Bennett goalie saves our bacon yet again - block - for the win!!
Upset #5 in the tournament.

Could not sustain the level after those 2 emotional wins. Lost next 2 that day at Avery Stadium.
Day 3 lose to Big Valley and beat ORWP.  One more on the last day to finish out.

Day 4 - one last game, for 17th. Super early, 7am game, very slow start, being nostalgic. We are down by 3 or 4 early, then come back, not quite tied. Lost 8-9.

Not as emotional as I thought it would be. Dad held it together. A few tears here and there, team pics, goodbyes, and we're off. Back up to hotel to quickly grab Ben and on to his last game for the tourney.