Woodside water polo waltzes to win

So there wasn’t a whole lot to be gained when the Wildcats traveled to Hillsdale for their season opener Tuesday. The Knights finished middle of the pack in the Ocean Division during the spring season and Hillsdale head coach Bryan Bent said one of his goals was to hold Woodside under 20 goals.

That was about the only tangible goal the Knights accomplished — but just barely. With the help of a Wildcats’ squad that took its foot off the gas early and used its entire bench, Hillsdale kept Woodside a goal shy. But the Wildcats still cruised to a comfortable 19-7 non-league victory.

“(Keeping them under 20) was one (goal) that we actually said,” Bent said. “(But) I saw heart. I was happy, overall. [Woodside is] fast and they shoot really hard.”

For the Wildcats, Hillsdale presented an opportunity to finally get to play against someone other than each other. Normally, head coach Bruno Antonino would have a handful of matches under the team’s belt. But this year, a tournament they normally play in was canceled and then oral agreements with other coaches around the Central Coast Section failed to materialize when Antonino was putting his 2021 fall schedule together.

So, he and the Wildcats were rarin’ to go.

“We can’t wait to play some games,” Antonino said. “We knew this game was a mismatch, but it gave me a chance to give more playing time to guys who had never played varsity.

“These games are good to build team chemistry.”

While Woodside may have some players who are seeing varsity action for the first time, the Wildcats do have a senior core who have been playing varsity since their freshmen year, making the Wildcats a contender for a third-straight Bay Division title.

Two of that group — Andrew Mills and Jake Anderson — appeared in mid-season form as they combined for 10 goals (five apiece) Tuesday.

Mills scored three of the Wildcats’ first four goals and Anderson scored three of his five goals in the opening period as Woodside took control from the onset and led 8-1 after one period.

“I expect them to lead the team,” Antonino said of Mills and Anderson, who were sophomores and key pieces of the 2019 team that won the Bay title and advanced to the CCS Division I semifinals.

“They are two guys who want to play in college. … I expect a lot from them.”

The Woodside starters did pretty much whatever they wanted as they used heavy pressure on the ball to come up with steals and force the Knights into turnovers that led to easy offense.

The Wildcats’ second string was a different issue, however, and the Knights played them to a standstill in the second and fourth periods, as they matched Woodside’s goal production in each quarter — 2 in the second and 3 in the fourth.

After Riley Fewkes scored Hillsdale’s initial goal in the first quarter, Billy Delchiaro and Josiah Yeager each scored over the final two minutes of the second quarter to trail 10-3 at the half.

Knights’ goalkeeper Justin McClure delivered both assists and finished with a game-high five. Both Yeager and Delchiaro had three goals each to lead Hillsdale.

The Woodside starters returned to begin the second half and they outscored the Knights 6-1. While it was the Wildcats peppering the goal, it was Hillsdale’s Yeager who had the goal of the match for the Knights’ only goal of the third period. After taking a long outlet pass from McClure, Yeager broke in on goal. At the two-meter mark, he used a nifty spin move to lose his defender and open up space in front of the net, before putting it away.

The fourth period was a wide-open seven minutes as both teams moved up and down the pool. Woodside scored the first three goals of the quarter for a 19-4 advantage, before the Knights capped the scoring with three unanswered.

For Woodside, the match was their only non-league game before the start of PAL play, which for the Wildcats begins next week after a bye this week.

For Hillsdale, the match was one final tuneup for what Bent hopes is a run for a PAL Ocean Division title. While the Knights suffered lopsided losses to Serra and Woodside, Hillsdale does have wins over Mills and Carlmont — a pair of Bay Division squads.

Our goal is to win the damn thing (the Ocean Division title),” Bent said. “And I think we can.”