Ceres High’s varsity girls water polo team had three matches left on its Western Athletic Conference schedule as of Monday.
Barring a major collapse, the Bulldogs will place second overall and qualify for the Sac-Joaquin Section playoffs for the fourth time in seven seasons.
" ’m proud of my team. We played hard and with heart.”Camryn Silva
“I wasn’t expecting to come back and take second place,” said Camryn Silva, Ceres High’s leading scorer. “We lost a lot of strong players to graduation. I’m proud of my team. We played hard and with heart.”
Ceres High improved to 7-2 in the WAC standings with a 22-9 win against Pacheco on Thursday.
Silva poured in nine goals.
Emily Wolff had six goals.
Kassandra Armas and Gisele Garcia chipped in with three goals apiece.
Allison McAdams scored once.
Ceres High prevented Johansen from moving into a tie for second place in the WAC with an 8-7 road victory on Oct. 9.
The Bulldogs edged the Vikings 11-10 in overtime on Sept. 13 in Ceres.
“Johansen and us are pretty close,” Silva said. “We beat them by one point both times.”
Silva accounted for six of the Bulldogs’ eight goals during the rematch.
Kassandra Armas scored twice.
Down 7-4, Johansen made the contest interesting by outscoring Ceres High 3-1 in the final period.
“I knew Johansen was going to put up a fight,” Silva said. “They have a good team. There was a lot of pressure. It gets your heart going. If you make one little mistake, it can change the course of the game.”
The top three teams in the WAC qualify for the postseason.
Ceres High just has to win just one of its final three matches to earn the conference’s second playoff berth.
The Bulldogs qualified for the playoffs in 2017, 2016 and 2012 under head coach Stephen Dias’ guidance.
“It’s fun being part of a winning program,” Silva said. “Dias is a great coach.”
