Senior goalkeeper Isabel Juarez and her Ceres High varsity girls water polo teammates remained upbeat following Thursday’s 6-3 home loss to Beyer.
The Bulldogs (5-2) needed to beat the Patriots (7-1) to force a tie atop the Western Athletic Conference standings.
"We gave it our all. This is the best we’ve played this year.”Senior goalkeeper Isabel Juarez
“There was a lot at stake,” Juarez said. “We were talking about it all day at school. We gave it our all. This is the best we’ve played this year.”
Juarez totaled seven blocks against Beyer.
“Camryn Elness is one of my biggest inspirations,” Isabel said. “She was Ceres High’s goalie. She trained me. She’s the reason I performed this well today.”
Juarez didn’t play water polo last year.
“I did cheer,” she said. “Coach (Stephen Dias) offered me the part of goalie. I took it on and fell in love with it.”
Camryn Silva, Kassandra Armas and Emily Wolff all scored once versus the Patriots.
Tied at 3-3, Beyer outscored Ceres High 3-0 in the final period to secure the victory.
The Patriots routed a shorthanded Bulldogs’ squad 17-3 on Sept. 11. Silva (wisdom teeth), Ninweh Gorges (shoulder) and Adriana Lopez (knee) did not play.
“The first time we played them, we were a little nervous,” Juarez said. “This time, we were confident. We were healthy.”
