FAST Water Polo fifth, sixth in Fall Grommet League championships

The two 14-and-under FAST Water Polo teams finished fifth and sixth in the Fall Grommet League championships played November 5 at La Jolla High School’s Coggan Pool.

The 14-and-under boys finished fifth among the 16 teams in the league while the 14-and-under girls were sixth among 13 teams.

“To finish in the first half is great,” said Jeremy Piasecki, the head water polo coach for FAST.

The league championship tournament was the first ever for the boys. “That was pretty amazing in itself,” Piasecki said.

“They were ranked a lot lower going into it,” Piasecki said. “To finish fifth was just pretty impressive.”

Although the boys lost a contest to Shores (a La Jolla area team) by an 11-0 score, they won their other three games. “It was pretty nice to see that the boys were definitely in that tournament,” Piasecki said.

The girls lost all three games in the championship tournament, by margins ranging from one to three goals, but their position entering the tournament gave them the sixth-place final standing. “It was just one of those things,” Piasecki said. “Sometimes you win some, sometimes you lose some.”

The boys began play with a 12-1 win over Neptune Aquatics, who practice at Carlsbad High School. “The teams were just about even going into the game,” Piasecki said.

“Our guys just put the game away at the beginning,” Piasecki said. “Our boys just dominated.”

Seven different players scored goals for FAST in the win against Neptune, and eight different FAST players tallied assists. Kort Heyneman led in both categories with three goals and three assists. Goalie Ryan Wilson made eight saves.

Wilson made seven saves in the shutout loss to Shores, but perhaps the best part about the blowout defeat was that the FAST boys proved that they could overcome such a potentially deflating experience. “It was just exciting that they were able to go into those two final games and come out the winner of two close games,” Piasecki said.

Both of the final two matches were decided in overtime; FAST won 10-9 over Windansea (La Jolla) Water Polo Club and 9-8 over Coronado. Heyneman led the team with five goals against Windansea while Heyneman and Wilson each had two assists and Wilson had six saves in that game.

Wilson, who was converted from a field player to a goalkeeper, had an assist and 13 saves against Coronado. “He’s always one of those players that we can stick anywhere we need him, and he always does a fine job,” Piasecki said of Wilson.

Heyneman and Oscar Munson each had four goals against Coronado while Heyneman and Conner Harrison shared the team lead with two assists apiece in that game.

The girls began the tournament with a 6-3 loss to Pacific Polo, whose home pool is at Westview High School. Katherine Owens scored two goals for FAST, Candice Cleland had the other goal, Erin McCook provided both assists, and Andrea Sepulveda made eight saves.

Sepulveda and Jacquelyn Verdon shared goalkeeping duties in FAST’s other two matches. In the 4-3 loss to Windansea Verdon had five saves while Sepulveda made one save and also had FAST’s only assist. McCook scored two goals and Owens had one goal against Windansea.

In the 5-3 loss to Carlsbad Women’s Water Polo Club, Bridget Harrison, Katryna Dubnansky, and Emily Turner each scored one goal for FAST. Verdon had five saves against CWWPC while Sepulveda recorded two saves.