Metea Valley girls water polo hosts the Neuqua Valley Wildcats in tonight’s DVC girls water polo matchup. The Mustangs enter tonight with a record of 6-4 looking to get their first conference win of the season. Neuqua comes in with a 1-2 record also looking to get its first conference win of the season. This highlight is sponsored by BMO.
Metea Valley girls water polo sails out to a 7-1 lead over Neuqua
Starting the night off with the Mustangs on offense. Addison Bludgen finds Lillian Witte, who sneaks past the defense. Despite the double team, Witte protects the ball from the defense and gets the shot past the goalie for the first score of the night.
Later in the quarter, the Wildcats looked to get on the board. As the shot clock winds down, Wildcat Madelin Harp passes to Phoebe Puacz, who finds the back of the net for the score. Neuqua trails 4-1.
Moments later, Metea recovers the ball and looks to set up their offense. The ball finds its way to Abby Hervey out in front. Absorbing the contact, Hervey gets the score for the Wildcats. At the end of the first quarter, Metea Valley leads 5-1.
Two minutes into the second quarter, Bludgen lines up for the free throw for the Mustangs. Bludgen’s shot is too far out of reach for the Wildcat goalie, adding another Mustang score. Metea leads 7-1.
At the halfway point of the quarter, the Wildcats need a spark to get back into this one. The Neuqua offense shows off nice ball movement before finding Puacz, attacking the goal as her shot gets through for the score. Neuqua will need more of that as the Cats trail 8-2 going into the second half.
Just over two minutes into the third quarter, the Mustangs are on the attack as they look to extend the lead. Natalie Kosta goes up for the shot but is denied by Sabrina Melane to keep the Mustangs off the board.
Moments later, Neuqua looks to capitalize after their defensive stop. Harp passes to Puacz, whose shot is too high, but the ball remains with the Wildcats as Gabriella Snyder finishes the possession off with a score. Metea leads 9-3.
The Mustangs get a defensive stop of their own as goalie Emma Kruzel sends it out to Makalya Paulding, who only has the goalie to beat. While on the attack, Paulding gets her shot into the net for the score. Metea leads 10-3 with just under four minutes remaining in the quarter.
Bludgen records her eighth goal of the night for the Mustangs
Under a minute remains in the third quarter as the Mustangs look to keep their momentum going into the fourth quarter. Mustang Amelia Hervey takes a shot from deep past the outstretched arms of the Neuqua defense for the score! Going into the final quarter, the Mustangs led 13-5.
The Mustangs turn up the defensive intensity as Bludgen gets the steal and swims up to the net before throwing it home for her EIGHTH goal of the night. The Mustangs lead 16-6 with just over four minutes remaining.
Time is not on the Wildcats’ side as they look to score quickly. Not wasting any time, Puacz sends another shot into the net for her fifth goal of the night. The Wildcats still trail 17-7 with 3 minutes, 30 seconds left.
Looking to wrap things up for the Mustangs, Amelia Hervey takes a shot through a sea of Wildcat hands as her shot finds the back of the net. Metea Valley girls water polo is able to shut the door from there as the Mustangs knock off Neuqua Valley 20-7 for their first DVC victory of the season.
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