EHS Girls Water Polo Rally to Secure State Berth over Auburn Riverside 10-8

The Enumclaw girls water polo team battled Auburn Riverside in a game that had State Tournmanet ramifications on Thursday afternoon at the Enumclaw Pool. Win, and go to state; lose and navigate the treacherous route of playing five other schools for the final two spots to the state tournament.  

Senior captain Ali Ballard, who scored five goals as the Hornets (9-5, 6-2 SPSL East), feverishly rallied from a three goal deficit in the fourth quarter to defeat the visting Ravens 10-8. The win for Enumclaw secured a berth in the 2011 state tournament coming up May 18-21 at Rogers High School.

"It's an excellent feeling to get to state," Hornet coach Bob Averill said. "It's what we work for every year and this will be our sixth straight year of going to state."

Auburn Riverside came out firing early in the first quarter, jumping to a 2-0 lead with five minutes remaining by utilizing their slow tempo, which they used to try and slow down the faster-paced Enumclaw offensive attack.

The Hornets would answer to tie the game 2-2 in the second period when Ballard took advantage of a Raven turnover and beat Raven goalie Kayla Clark.

The teams would exchange two goal runs the rest of the first half leaving the score tied at 4 going into the halftime intermission.

Auburn Riverside would dominate the third quarter forcing multiple turnovers and holding Enumclaw scoreless the entire period. That's when Averill made a game changing adjustment to push the Ravens out of their comfort zone and get the pace of the game faster for the Hornets down the stretch, even though they were trailing 7-4 at the end of the third qaurter.

"We inserted two of our faster swimmers into the game (Ali and Katie) Larrea to speed the game up a little," Averill said.

The move paid off in the fourth quarter for the Enumclaw squad as they began to chip away at the lead. Ballard scored two goals in 51 seconds to cut the lead to 7-6. Erin Stucker and Hannah Kinniburgh would add goals to put the Hornets ahead 8-7 with 4:27 left to play.

Kelsey Sonneson concluded the 5-0 run with a goal at 3:55 to make it a 9-7 lead. The Enumclaw defense continued to stiffen as they forced a shot clock violation at the 3:25 mark along with several turnovers by the Ravens to keep them at bay until the 1:53 mark, when Auburn Riverside cut the lead back to 9-8.

After a couple of close calls with shots hitting the crossbar and great saves by Hornet goalie Megan Lesmeister, Sonneson put the game away with a long distance rocket shot into the goal to seal victory and a trip to state for Enumclaw with 48 seconds left and giving an insurmountable two goal lead at 10-8.

Averill had plenty of praise for his captain afterward in her role in getting the Hornets another state berth.

"Ali was the little engine that could for us; her play forced them  (Auburn Riverside) to double team her," he said. "Her passing was just as important as her goal scoring for us."

Ballard afterwards expressed her great excitement about her team going to state and her performance in helping her team this afternoon to get there.

"I am so excited that we are going to state," Ballard said. " I also feel like I played one of my best games of the year today."

Enumclaw next plays at Peninsula on Tuesday, May 3. Start time is 3:30 p.m.

Auburn Riverside 2- 2 -3- 1--8

Enumclaw  1- 3- 0- 6--10

Auburn Riverside Goals: Wallen 3, Pawlak 2, Perala 2, Gray 1

Enumclaw Goals: Ali Ballard 5, Kelsey Sonneson 3,  Erin Stucker 1, Hannah Kinniburgh 1