By: Lucas de Lima
VISALIA – On the evening of Tuesday, August 23 the Redwood Rangers Varsity boys Water Polo team played their third preseason match, defeating the Liberty Patriots 16-3.
The Patriots were playing in their first preseason match of the season, and this will be the last time these two squads met this year, because the Patriots are currently in the Southwest Yosemite League(SWYL).
Their match-up started in Redwoods favor, as Jake Chambers fired a rocket from about 2 meters away past the Liberty goalkeeper to make the score 1-0 Redwood early in the first quarter.
This only jump started the Redwood attack, as the Rangers finished the first quarter with a 5-0 lead.
The Patriots finally squeezed one past Magnus Burgess ’24 in the second quarter, but that was all the damage they did in the first half, with the score 10-1 to the Rangers at halftime.
The Rangers laid off the gas offensively in the third quarter, but kept the defense solid, allowing only one more goal from the Patriots, a skipper into the top left corner from about 7 meters out.
With a comfortable lead late in the fourth quarter, Coach Major Rogers substituted all of the players in the game. Among those substitutes was David Ross ’25, which scored a spectacular goal, evading his opponent near the goal and firing shot to the far corner past the Liberty goalkeeper.
The game ended soon after, with the Rangers securing a 16-3 victory.
Although he scored a great goal, Ross still feels he could have performed better.
“I feel like I could have played a little better, but overall I think I played good,” Ross says.
Burgess was also content with his performance for the team.
“I felt very, very comfortable. Pretty confident in last game’s performance,” Burgess says.
Burgess had an impressive 6 saves, keeping the Patriots to scoring only 3 goals.
The Varsity boys squad has been connecting together well during the preseason, according to Burgess. “On the off-season we’ve been connecting really good,” Burgess says.
The Rangers now have a record of 2-1 in the preseason. The Rangers will play their next game on Tuesday, August 30 against Clovis East at 6:15PM.
Lucas de Lima
Lucas de Lima, '25, is a proud managing editor and sports writer for the Redwood Gigantea. Outside of journalism, he is part of the FBLA and FFA organizations, as well as the tennis program. You can reach him by email at lucas.de3708@vusd.us
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