July 26, 2024

OC Sports Zone: Community First

Northwood water polo team celebrates senior day with 16-7 victory over Uni and stays in PCL title chase

Northwood seniors (from left) Jack Tsaur, Spencer Sellwood, Jinwoo Park, Jaewoo Yoo, Charles Shobe, Matthew Halle and Noah Pendleton were honored Tuesday. (Photos courtesy Michael An)

Northwood’s boys water polo team improved its overall record to 9-5 with a 16-7 Pacific Coast League victory over University Tuesday at Northwood.

To see the slide show, please click on the first photo

Northwood (5-1 in league) remained one game behind league leading Woodbridge. Northwood hosts Woodbridge on Thursday at 4 p.m.

The Timberwolves were led by OC Sports Zone’s player to watch, junior Max Abravanel, who had six goals.

Senior two-meter player Charlie Shobe, had an equally impressive game with four goals.

Junior Chris Pukszta and sophomore Cameron An both added two goals while senior Spencer Sellwood and senior Jack Tsaur each scored one goal.

Spencer Sellwood led the team in points because of his outstanding seven assists. Defensively, Abravanel led the team with three steals and senior goalkeeper Noah Pendleton finished with seven saves.

The Timberwolves also celebrated their seniors: Spencer Sellwood, Charlie Shobe, Jay Yoo, Jinwoo Park, Jack Tsaur, Matthew Halle and Noah Pendleton. Sellwood, Shobe and Pendleton are all being recruited by various collegiate water polo programs and are hopeful to make a decision in the near future, according to Coach Kyle Kim-E.

“Today was our senior game, but our team also knew that this was a must-win league game,” Kim-E said. “In my past three years of coaching, I have learned that you can never underestimate any team in the Pacific Coast League. I thought our defense could of been better in the first half (score was 8-5 at half), but all of the guys really stepped it up in the second half (9-2 in the second half).

“What I’m very happy about though was that we were able to cycle in all of our seniors throughout the game. Some of them usually play JV, so this was the first varsity game for most of them but you could tell that they were excited and they ultimately played well. It was a nice moment to see all seven seniors playing together for the remaining four minutes of the game.

“As a coach, this is my first four-year cycle of athletes and it’s crazy to think about how fast time flies by. I’m incredibly proud of the group of seniors that I have – they all trusted the process and worked hard every single day. I appreciate all of them for being good role models both in and out of the water for the rest of the athletes in our program. I’m thankful to have had the opportunity to be their coach for four years.”

NORTHWOOD MOVES UP IN CIF WATER POLO POLL