PHOTOS: Northwood rallies for overtime victory over Sage Hill in league opener

Northwood senior Iacopo Cagnoni scores one of his seven goals. (Photos courtesy Troy Witt).

Northwood High School’s boys water polo team opened Pacific Coast League play with a 12-11 victory over Sage Hill Thursday afternoon.

Sage Hill, a new member to the league started the match with an 8-1 lead.

But Northwood battled back. Junior Michael Abshier tied the game 10-10 with two seconds left which forced an overtime,’

Northwood then finished in the extra session.

To see the slide show, click on the first picture:

Freshman Brandon Bui looks to take a shot.

Junior Michael Abshier gets up for a shot.

Northwood junior Ethan Chen wraps around for an attempt.

Sophomore Gavin Dang looks to shoot.

Northwood was led by senior Iacopo Cagnoni, who had seven goals. Abshier had three goals. Senior Christian Thorpe and sophomore Gavin Dang each scored one goal. Abshier also led the team in steals (11) and ejections drawn (six).

“I could tell that our team had a lot of nerves going into our first league game of the season,” said Northwood Coach Kyle Kim-E. “We’re a young team, so nerves were expected but unfortunately we let that (and a lot of silly mistakes) control the game in the first half. 

“What I liked though is that the guys stuck to our system and kept persevering. In the past, when things aren’t going as planned, they tend to improvise or do things that are more detrimental than helpful. This time, they stuck to the plan and made the necessary adjustments that we needed to. It was a fun and exciting comeback win.”

Northwood travels to Laguna Hills on Tuesday and hosts Woodbridge Thursday.

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