Quick Thoughts on SLUH at West
By Tom Milford (@coachmilford)

STLToday.com did a great recap of the game here.

The energy of the crowd was electric – in the tiny tank of Parkway West, it was as loud a water polo game as I’ve been to in years. The fans on both sides were energetic, with each student section seemingly growing larger as the game progressed.

The game last night wasn’t pretty, but man it was fun. It was a defensive battle as the 6-lane pool made it very easy for help defenders to steal 2M passes, which gave the top scorers on each team very little time and space in which to operate – which can be frustrating for the 2Ms. The scoring came in spurts and it seemed every time SLUH went up, the Longhorns came roaring back with clutch goals, sending their student section into a frenzy. Chandler Klemm earned my vote for West’s player of the game with his 4 goals, one with 1:08 left in regulation, to make the score 6-5 (with all due respect to older brother Harrison who put away the game tying goal away in clutch fashion with 0:23 left in regulation, sending the game to overtime).

But a hot start to the overtime by SLUH’s player of the game, Sam Erlinger, proved to be too much to overcome in the shortened overtime period. Sam had 4 goals, including 2 in overtime, to secure the 10-8 victory for the Jr. Bills. In addition, senior Justin Ramacciotti had two big goals, one in the 4th to make it 6-4 and the eventual game winner in overtime.

Games like this are what this area needs to get to the next level. The prospect of a rematch in the all-deep environs of the Rec-Plex (DeSmet Tournament), Lindbergh (Lindbergh Invite) and possibly the Rec-Plex again (Districts) should prove to be a more “beautiful” game as the boys won’t be scratching and clawing for every last inch of open water. Our young players need to see good polo, and those were two great teams who played a great game and it should only get better next time. Make sure you don’t miss round two which is likely to be April 14th at Rec-Plex.