Lady Jaguars win two of four in water polo

The Valley Center varsity girls water polo team had a busy week with a league match against San Dieguito last Tuesday and three games to close out the San Diego Open Tournament this weekend.
The Lady Jaguars played well, earning two wins in the four games, including an outstanding 15–0 shutout against San Dieguito.
In that game, the Lady Jags took a 7–0 lead in the first quarter and didn’t look back, smothering the counterattack and rolling to the big win.
Maddy Daugherty had three goals, one assist, and three steals. Nikki Paredes had three goals. Makayla Markey had three goals. Dani Lettice had two goals, one assist, five steals, and three blocks. Carina Favela had one goal, three assists, two steals, and earned one exclusion. Nicole Marler had one goal, two assists, two steals, and earned one exclusion. Macy Morrison had one goal, and one steal. Kaylee Hudson had one goal, one assist, and one steal. Melissa Persichetti had 12 goal saves, four steals, and one assist.
Valley Center finished off the San Diego Open Tournament this weekend with one win in three games.
On Friday, the Lady Jaguars faced Granite Hills, and after falling behind early, suffered an 11–1 loss.
Granite Hills had a solid start, taking a 5–0 lead at half. The Lady Jags were able to put away one goal in the third, while allowing two, to trail 7–1 entering the fourth. Granite Hills scored four more while allowing none to put the game away.
“We were a little out of sync and could not generate any offense against a solid Granite Hills team,” said head coach Kyle Kline. “The girls played hard but could not match Granite who went on to take third in the tournament.”
Lettice had Valley Center’s only goal, while Paredes had five steals and Persichetti had a good game with nine saves and five steals.
The first game Saturday was against La Costa Canyon (LCC) and once again the Lady Jaguars couldn’t overcome an early deficit and lost, 12–8.
LCC came out strong in the first quarter to take a 3–2 lead. The Lady Jags had a slow second quarter and were unable to score, while allowing three more for LCC, to trail 6–2 at half.
The Lady Jags gained some momentum in the third by scoring five goals and allowing three to trail 9–7 going into the fourth. But LCC was able to put away three more goals while the Lady Jags could only earn one.
“This was a tough game and we had some defensive breakdowns with two starters fouling out,” Kline said.
Daugherty had a good game with five goals, one assist, two steals, and earned one exclusion. Favela had two goals, one assist. Elsie Emanuel had one goal. Persichetti had seven goal saves and one assist.
The final game of the tournament was against Scripps Ranch, in a rematch of an earlier tournament game that Valley Center lost by two goals. This time, the Lady Jaguars came out fired up, took an early lead and got a clutch goal late to take a 7–6 win.
The Lady Jags took a 2–1 lead in the first, then picked it up in the second by scoring three goals while allowing one to lead 5–2 at half.
Scripps Ranch was able to score two in the third while allowing one for the Lady Jags, giving Valley Center a 6–4 advantage heading into the fourth.
Scripps Ranch scored two goals in the fourth, but the Lady Jags were able to put one away to take the one-goal win.
“This was good for the girls to finish off with a hard earned win,” Kline said. “They did an awesome job at this tournament, earning three big wins against Santa Fe Christian, University City, and Scripps Ranch. They played some of their best polo yet, which will give them a huge boost heading into the end of league play and the playoffs.”
Daugherty had two goals, two assists, and one steal. Markey had two goals, one assist, and four steals. Favela had one goals, one assist, and one steal. Lettice had one goal, one assist, and one steal. Paredes had one goal, one assist, and one steal. Marler had three steals. Persichetti had 12 goal saves.
The Lady Jaguars play their final match of the regular season on Thursday at Del Norte at 3:45 p.m.