Girls’ water polo destroyed Bishop O’Dowd in their NCS first-round playoff game on Wednesday evening, 20-2.

The 1st period began with sophomore Sophia Cavalli winning the sprint. Junior Goalie Becca Buck blocked 3 out of 3 shots by the dragons. Sophomore Erin Neustrom scored a penalty shot with 2 minutes left in the 1st period. The score at the end of the period of 9-0, with juniors Kari Jensen and Olivia Price, freshman Zoe Crouch, Cavalli, and sophomore Katie Klein all scoring.

Campolindo was 6 for 9 on shooting.

Sophomore Lauren Etnyre won the sprint of the 2nd period, earning possession for the Cougars. Buck blocked 6 of 7 attempts, while Jensen, Cavalli, Klein, sophomore Sidney Vranesh, and Etnyre all scored. The score was 14-1 by the end of the half.

Freshman goalie Camryn Sutter took over for Buck in the final 2 periods. Buck moved out to play offense, and started off the 3rd period by winning the sprint. Cavalli scored, along with Klein, Crumbaugh, and Etnyre, who picked up 2 goals. The score was 18-2 at the end of the 3rd period.

Sutter, still in goal, blocked 5 of 6 attempts in the final period. Although the Cougars gave up the final sprint, Price and Buck scored the final 2 goals for the squad.

After the victory, Coach Kim Everist said, “We have goals set for every game, and one of our primary objectives is to play good team defense. Tonight it was a big focus.”

“Hopefully we can clean up the things that didn’t work out here and we’ll be ready to go with those things on Saturday,” Everist added.

Sutter, whose time in goal has been limited, said, “It was rough at the beginning but it got better towards the end.” She hopes to pick up more minutes in goal during the rest of the playoffs.

Sutter admitted that with the blowout, her squad was able to use the 2nd half almost like a glorified practice. “We slowed down a little bit to work on some technical things that we need to work on,” she said.