Bellevue places 12th at Kap7 AFC Invite
On Friday, September 26th and Saturday, September 27th, the Bellevue Wolverines traveled to San Diego to compete in the America’s Finest City Kap7 Invitational for the first time in school history. Hosted by Coronado High School, the tournament featured several of Southern California’s elite high school programs. As the only non-California high school invited to compete in the tournament, the Wolverines fared well, earning 12th place out of 32 teams.
The tournament was held in one of the most beautiful water polo facilities in the country: the City of Coronado Aquatics Center. Overlooking the San Diego-Coronado Bridge on the edge of the San Diego Bay, the pool served as the site of all five of the Wolverines’ games.
Bellevue 11, Temescal Canyon 4
Bellevue opened its weekend with two quick first-quarter goals, one by senior co-captain Marco Stanchi and one by junior Zack Rossman. Stanchi’s second ejection of the game early in the first quarter led to Temescal’s first goal. Hayes added a post-up goal, but another man-down goal and an outside shot by the Titans left the first quarter tied at 3-3.
In the second quarter, Rossman’s second goal off a beautiful pass from freshman brother A.J. put the Wolverines up one. After a Temsecal goal, Hayes answered with his second goal of the game, this time on man-up feed from Zack Rossman, who had earned the ejection.
With Stanchi back in the pool for the third period, the Wolverines went on a 4-0 run to put the game away. Hayes scored another post-up and man-up goal, Zack Rossman scored on an outside shot, and senior co-captain Liam Naughton added a goal after Stanchi drew an ejection. Senior Sevren Trulson supplied strong defense, tallying two steals. In the fourth quarter, Zack Rossman scored his fourth goal off a nice pass from Stachi and sophomore Jessie Hainze scored on a man-up to round out the scoring.
Bellevue 9, Murrieta Valley 16
Later that evening, Bellevue returned to the pool to face off against Murrieta Valley, one of the top teams in Southern California and a 2013 CIF-SS Division 2 semi-finalist.
Murrieta struck first, but Bellevue answered when Hayes found senior Josh Rehder open at the post on a man-up following Stanchi’s ejection drawn from center. Murrieta scored the next two goals, but Naughton answered on another man-up post-shot, assisted by Stanchi after Zack Rossman drew an ejection. Down just 3-2, Bellevue gave up three straight goals to the powerful Nighthawk attack until Rehder stopped the bleeding, scoring from outside to make it 6-3. Murrieta added a seventh goal at the buzzer to end the first quarter up 7-3.
When Murrieta struck again early in the second quarter to make it 8-3, things looked bleak. But Hayes came up big with goals on three straight possessions to narrow the gap to 8-6. Late in the quarter, Murrieta answered with two man-up goals to close out the first half at 10-6.
In the third quarter, a tired Wolverine team struggled to generate offense and gave up four unanswered goals. While Bellevue won the fourth quarter 3-2 thanks to goals by Rehder, Stanchi and Zack Rossman, it was not nearly enough as the Wolverines fell 16-9.
Murrieta proved to be a tough opponent by winning the tournament thanks to an 11-10 overtime victory over Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga. Cathedral Catholic of San Diego took third, Mira Costa took fourth, Damien took fifth and Coronado took sixth.
Bellevue 12, Martin Luther King 11 (OT)
On Saturday morning, the Wolverines squared off against a physical team from Riverside. Bellevue and King traded first-quarter goals, with Naughton scoring once and Hayes scoring twice. In the second period, Stanchi fueled a 4-0 Bellevue run thanks to two ejections drawn and one goal scored on a crafty left-handed sweep shot. Zack Rossman tallied two goals while Naughton added one to help the Wolverines build a 7-4 halftime advantage.
In the third, Hayes scored twice and Rossman once. However, King was able to cut the deficit to two. Hayes scored on the first possession of the fourth period to make it 10-8. King answered on a post-up to make it 10-9. Zack Rossman gave the Wolverines some breathing room by converting an outside shot off foul to make it 11-9 with less than three minutes to go. But the Wolves responded to tie the game at 11-11 and force overtime.
In sudden death overtime, King won the sprint but sailed an outside shot high, giving Bellevue a chance to win. On the first possession, Stanchi came through for the Wolverines, drawing a foul at seven-meters and nailing an outside shot to win the game.
Bellevue 7, Davis 12
Following the dramatic victory over King, Bellevue squared off against Davis High School, one of the top programs in Northern California. Although the Wolverines won the first quarter 3-2 and entered halftime trailing by one, they ran out of steam in the second half, failing to score in the fourth quarter while allowing three Blue Devil goals.
The game was marked by several missed opportunities. While Davis went 4-for-5 on its man-ups, Bellevue went just 1-for-4. Despite having several open looks, the Wolverines shot a paltry 22% on 32 shots. Stanchi led the Wolverines with three goals and two ejections drawn. Naughton and Zack Rossman added a pair of goals each.
Bellevue 5, La Jolla 11
Playing for 11th and 12th place, Bellevue faced La Jolla in its third and final game of the day. For the second straight game, the Wolverines won the first quarter 3-2 but fell apart later in the game as fatigue set in.
Hayes led the scoring with two goals. Stanchi, AJ Rossman and Rehder added a goal each. Stanchi earned six ejections, but like the Davis game, the Wolverines could not convert, going 1-for-7 on man-ups. Meanwhile, La Jolla went 5-for-5 on their man-ups. Senior goalie Quinlan Hughes had three steals in the loss.
