After putting all your focus and energy into winning a section championship it can be hard for teams to turn the page and gear up for a run in the Northern California playoff run. So Merced High girls water polo coach asked his players on Monday if they were content with a section title or did they want more?

 

The Bears wanted more and it showed in their NorCal opener as they stormed out to a 7-1 lead after the first quarter and cruised to a 19-3 victory over No. 8 Christian Brothers in the first round of the NorCal Regional Division III playoffs. “It wasn’t hard to refocus because they were ready to take on the challenge of the NorCal playoffs,” said Grattan, whose team improved to 29-2 this season. “Last year I think they were tired after winning the section title.”

 

The top-seeded Bears will host No. 5 Stevenson (20-9), which edged No. 4 St. Mary’s 13-12 on Tuesday at 5 p.m. Merced was just too fast and talented against Christian Brothers, in a matchup of two teams that had won back-to-back section championships. The Falcons had won the last two Sac-Joaquin Section Division III titles and Merced has won the last two championships in Division II.

 

The Bears quickly turned steals into transition goals as they continuously beat Christian Brothers up and down the pool. Sarah Slocum scored three first-quarter goals, Kate McIntosh added two goals and teammates Dorothy Drury and Elise Metcalf both scored to give the Bears the early 7-1 lead.

 

Merced extended the lead to 13-1 midway through the second quarter before settling for a 13-2 lead at the half. “We were just too fast for them,” Grattan said. Nine different players scored and nine different players tallied at least one assist as the Bears worked for good shots all game. Slocum, Zoey Hickman, Gianna Fragulia and McIntosh all finished with three goals each. Fragulia with four assists as Merced assisted on 17 of its 19 goals. Bears goalie Audrey O’Bruba finished with 10 saves.

 

Boys Water Polo

Redwood 15, Merced 11 – The Bears history-making season came to an end in the first round of the NorCal Division II playoffs. Eighth-seeded Merced played the No. 1 seed Giants (25-6) tough. Redwood was the Northern Coast Section champion.

 

Eli Hamm led Merced (30-3) with three goals and Cord McCall and Reid McCall both added two goals. Cord McCall also finished with four assists. Merced goalie Eli Morison stopped six shots in the cage. The Bears won their first Sac-Joaquin Section championship since 1994 on Saturday.

Shawn Jansen is the MUHSD Program Manager Digital Media. He can be reached at Sjansen@muhsd.org.