Pali Sports Extra

Pali High Water Polo Fourth at Malibu Tourney

September 18, 2016

By STEVE GALLUZZO | Sports Editor

Defeat often motivates a team to play better and harder the next game and that was the case for the Palisades High boys varsity water polo team at the Malibu Tournament.

Still smarting from their 10-6 loss to Santa Monica the day before, the Dolphins took their frustrations out on their first two opponents Thursday at Malibu High.

Palisades opened pool play with a 14-8 victory over Agoura’s JV team. Quinn Godfredsen scored five goals, Gabby Feizbakhsh added four, Theo Trask had three steals and Brandon Epp made 10 saves. An hour later, the Dolphins routed Hueneme 14-1 to clinch first place in their group. Oliver Grant led the way with five goals and three steals and Stuart Brien, Zach Wunder and Zeke Ramirez each added two. Lucas Silva got a rare opportunity in goal in the second half and made four saves.

Oliver Grant (right) takes a shot in Palisades’ 14-1 pool play victory over Hueneme last Thursday at the Malibu Tournament. The Dolphins went 2-2 to finish in fourth place. Photo: Steve Galluzzo — Oliver Grant shoots against Hueneme in the Malibu Tournament. / Steve Galluzzo

Missing two starters (Feizbakhsh and Silva), Palisades took on Newbury Park in the semifinals Saturday and lost 12-9.

Epp and Michael Melnik combined for 10 saves and captain Isai Elias had four goals and two steals.

“As we move forward [Coach Adam Blakis] told us to focus on our drives, keep our angles and take it to the other team,” Elias said. “Winning City is always the ultimate goal, but we also want to show the Southern Section teams that we’re good.”

In the third-place game, the Dolphins faced another Marmonte League team, Westlake, and lost 10-7. Epp made eight saves, Godfredsen had four goals and Elias had two goals and four steals.

“We’re a motion team so we want to get the foul or the kick out or the 5-meter to speed up our game,” Elias added. “In practice we’ve been working on giving instead of taking so we want to react first to our opponent. We have a lot more chemistry, we’ve all been playing since our freshman year and in club we all play together. We all can score, we all can carry the team at times.”

Elias believes the Santa Monica setback taught a valuable lesson.

“We learned from that game that we can’t always rely on our drives,” Elias said. “We have to look for the open guy and focus on finishing our shots.”

Palisades hosts San Pedro in its league opener Monday.