Beating four of their opponents by five points or more wasn’t enough for the Regals water polo team as it breezed past La Verne, 13-2, in the regular season finale on Wednesday.

The Regals offense was on fire most of the game, particularly the second half.  Up 4-0 at halftime, the Regals re-entered the pool in the third quarter with a purpose, scoring seven goals and pushing ahead 11-1.

“I honestly see this as one of the best performances we’ve had all year,” said senior goal keeper Kylee Tomasetti.  “We’ve been working on executing the game plan in practice all week. We knew what we had to do, and we went out there and did it.”

Despite the Regals’ unstoppable offense, it was Tomasetti’s defensive play that stole the show on Wednesday.  Tomasetti amassed a career-high seven steals and added four blocks in just three quarters of play.

“I knew it was my last regular-season game, and I knew how important it was for us to win. I practiced the things I needed to do in order to be successful in the cage all week, and that’s all I thought about through the game,” said Tomasetti.  “You can’t have your mind clouded with too many other things, or else it ends up bad. And plus, I wanted to go out with a bang, and I thought I did a pretty good job of it.”

Freshman goal keeper Gina Merry closed out the game in the fourth, adding four blocks of her own to seal the 13-2 victory over the Leopards.

Eight players put points on the board for the Regals, including seniors Shannon Streeter and Morgan McCardell.  Senior Jane Galluzzi pitched in two field blocks.

“The team played their best defensive game of the year,” said head coach Craig Rond. “They really did a great job of preparing and executing our defensive game plan.”

Wednesday also saw Tomasetti, McCardell, Streeter and Galluzzi play their final regular season game wearing the purple and gold.

“Their leadership is invaluable.  Shannon Streeter played one of her best games of the year.  Morgan McCardell and Jane Galluzzi also contributed on both ends of the pool.  Kylee Tomasetti had a career-high seven steals in the goal and really managed the defense well,” said Rond.

The Regals return to the pool on Friday, April 26, at Pasadena City College for the first day of post-season play.

As the seniors’ polo careers slowly come to a close, the Regals hope to send them off as SCIAC champions.

“It’s definitely a surreal feeling. Water polo has been a huge part of my life for over a decade now, and I can’t believe my career is so close to being over. I’m honestly in a small bit of denial,” said Tomasetti.  “But I couldn’t have asked for a better end to my last conference game and a better team to play with in my final season.”

Jase Magarifuji
Staff Writer
Published April 24, 2013