Fantastic win for the Rio Hondo Roadrunners Women’s water polo team as they hosted ELACs Huskies. A great start and defending, is what kept the momentum going for the roadrunners. That ended up in a 10-7 win for Rio Hondo on October 19, 2022.

The First Quarter 

Good display of offense is how the first quarter started as RHC struck first with the first goal of the game making it 1-0. Defense was making stops as ELAC’s throws were just up wide. Early in the game RHC’s very own goalie Valentina Orozco made stops as the away team was starting to knock. ELAC ties the game making the score 1-1. The first quarter ending with a great save from the home team’s goalie. 

The Second Quarter

The Roadrunners came out the second quarter hot as they struck first. Again, with a goal from Janness Banh breaking the tie making it 2-1 or RH. Right after that the home team kept the pressure going by scoring another goal, courtesy of Amera Elsayed making it a 3-1 score for the home team. This goal came off a great defensive play that led to a flawless counterattack making it difficult for the away team to make a stop.

Back to back goals for Amera. Being in the middle of the pool with an open shot that could not be stopped by the away goalie making the score 4-1. With 3 unanswered goals, there was a time out called as ELAC had no answers on how to stop RHC’s great attacks. As a result after that time out ELAC came out lost and no communication. As they were pressured by the roadrunners who were moving the ball around very well. And in constant communication while on offense.

Above all Valentina with yet another great save that led to another good attack by the home side, with a great finish by Melissa Hernandez making the score 5-1. As ELAC continued to struggle in attack they were able to put 2 goals past RHC but before the quarter ended the home team answered with a goal of their own with the quarter ending 6-3 in favor of RHC.

The Third Quarter

RHC kept the momentum going for them as they came into this quarter how they ended the third quarter. 2 goals from RHC from Melissa Hernandez with the score being 8-3. The goalie and defense with a perfect play. A long pass into Aliza Montenegro to score, with the defense getting caught off guard making it 9-3. ELAC very unlucky this quarter. With many shots being hit in the crossbar with this quarter ending 9-3 for the home team. 

The Fourth Quarter

ELAC came out with the final push for a comeback. With 3 goals in their favor, with the score changing to 9-6. ELAC’s shots all hit the posts and crossbar all game. Luckily for Isabella Carney who scores the final dagger for the home team making the score 10-6. The quarter ended with an away goal with a few seconds left on the clock. The final score was 10-7 in favor of RHC. 

Postgame Interview with Coach Todd Lim

In Conclusion, Spoke to coach Todd Lim on his thoughts of this game, and mention about his great start of the first quarter, “We are familiar with some of their players and Alina number 13 from their team, is extremely talented, so we certainly have a game plan for her and deserves a lot of attention and, the defensive scheme was to contain her as best as possible.” Coach Todd also talked about the goals scored on defensive plays and said, “We always look for those things and look at areas we can attack, and counterattack is certainly one of them.”

In the end, Coach gave praise to his goalie Valentina Orozco and said the following, ”Having a solid goalie behind you it’s the backbone of your defense. We are very lucky to have Valentina Orozco. She was second leading save leader in the state last year. She’ll probably be there again, and is certainly the foundation of our defense.”