Turlock's varsity boys water polo team captured a victory over El Capitan in the Bulldogs' home league opener on Monday night, but the girls team did not have the same success.
It took two overtime periods, but in the end, Christian Weaver was able to nudge a pair of goals to give his team the 1-0 start to the Central California Conference after winning it 13-11.
“Our defense really thrived off the energy from the crowd in overtime and locked El Caps' offense down,” said Turlock head coach Manny Bettencourt.
From the beginning, the intensity of the game picked up and never let down.
There wasn't a clear advantage as both sides swung momentum, eventually leading to an 11-9 Turlock lead in the closing minutes of regulation.
El Capitan was able to rally and scored a pair of late goals in the final three minutes to force the match into overtime at 11 apiece.
The game remained scoreless after the first overtime period and into the final two minutes of the second until finally something happened.
Weaver finally knocked in two of his five goals to seal the win in dramatic fashion for his team.
Turlock's Dylan Bernardi tallied four goals for the game along with four steals. Mykel Garton tallied three goals and seven steals. Matthew Hesse had one goal and three steals.
Bulldog goalkeeper Kyle White finished with 12 saves.
Unlike the boys team, the girls struggled to compete with a Gauchos team that seemed more determined than the Bulldogs.
They took the lead and never gave it up, eventually leading to a 17-7 final.
“This was our first day of CCC league play and we did not play our best, but we hope to build and grow off this,” said Turlock girls head coach Sonja Raynes.
Turlock only had one player, Allison Serratos, score more than one goal for the game.
Serratos tallied four goals and a pair of steals while Eva Gemperle, Caitlin Cornell and Karissa Roof each scored a single goal.
Goalkeeper Olivia Cusenza finished with 10 saves.
The next match for the girls and boys will be against Oakdale at home at 5:30 p.m. Thursday.
