Sharks Water Polo Wins CIF First Round

A rainy Thursday afternoon at the Malibu High pool didn't dampen the Sharks spirits as they overcame the Xavier Prep Saints and their very unusual offensive scheme in a 11-3 CIF Playoff victory. 

The game started well for the Sharks with Emmet Pierson earning a kick out, giving Malibu a man advantage. After a couple of passes Henry Buckley fed the ball to Jens Cole who fired it into the goal giving the Sharks the early lead. 

The Saints came back with an offensive strategy the Sharks and Coach Mulligan had not seen in many years.

Xavier Prep would have all of their players spread out on the Sharks end of the pool while the goalie held the ball. With about 5 seconds on the shot clock the goalie would try to pass to a player to shoot the ball or shoot it himself. 

The Saints strategy that worked for a while, grabbing a 2-1 lead as Malibu tried to figure out how to respond.

At the end of the first quarter the Sharks finally got a turn over and Jordan Clarke scored to tie the score.

The Saints continued their strategy in the second quarter, which really slowed the game down.  But the Sharks were comfortable with it and started to take over.

First, Clarke scored again and then Owen Franz scored with a man advantage. Clarke then scored his third goal of the game. Pierson then drew another kick out, got the ball back and scored lifting Malibu to a 6-2 halftime advantage.

The third and fourth quarters continued at the same slow pace, even though it didn't seem to give the Saints a hope of catching up. Buckley, Franz and Cooper Bell each scored and Pierson scored two more goals and the game ended with the Sharks winning 11-3. Jack Thompson was solid in goal making nine saves.

The top ranked Sharks now move onto the CIF quarterfinals on Saturday and will host Santa Ynez at 12 p.m.