Apopka boys, girls water polo break losing streaks

By Marshall Tempest  

Reporter    

This week, the Apopka girls and boys water polo teams bounced back from losing streaks, posting huge wins over Colonial on their senior night. The boys team broke a three-game losing streak and defeated Colonial 19-5. The girls team broke a six-game losing streak and defeated Colonial 13-6.   

Girls water polo   

This season, the girls are 4-10, 1-2 in district matchups, and ranked 48th in the state according to MaxPreps on Wednesday, March 26. The team sits fourth in Class 1A District 1 under Seminole, Lake Mary, and Lyman but above Winter Springs.   

The girls defeated Colonial 13-6 and broke a six-game losing streak. The girls are now 1-6 in their last seven games, falling to Windermere (10-4), West Orange (19-3), Lake Minneola (11-8), Lyman (10-8), Gainesville (8-4), and Lake Howell (12-6). In those six losses, Apopka was outscored 70-33.   

In the win over Colonial, Apopka was dominant from the first whistle. After the game head coach Robert Edstrom told me that this win was huge for the team, especially for breaking their losing streak and even more being on senior night.   

“It always feels good to get a win on senior night,” Edstrom said. “We’ve been on a bit of a loss streak, so it’s good to get back after the long break and fix some issues that have been giving us problems, like our shooting. We just want to keep improving and get some good momentum going into the postseason, and I feel like this was a good step towards that.”  

The Blue Darters outscored Colonial in the first three quarters of play: 4-1 in the first quarter, 1-0 in the second, 4-1 in the third, and 4-4 in the fourth. Apopka collected 13 goals, 11 assists and six steals.   

Edstrom said he was pleased with the shooting in the win. He said the girls needed some confidence in their shooting, and he saw much of that in the win. He saw so much confidence that he had to remind the girls that taking good and smart shots was still the best option. Some of Edstrom’s players were beginning to shoot from anywhere now that they were getting a hot hand.   

“It goes back to the fundamentals,” he said. “Just focusing on good decision-making and looking for open passes. You know she’s (Jordyn McMaster) a senior, so she got a little caught up in senior night. She got a couple more goals than she normally does, so she said, ‘Okay, I can shoot from anywhere.’ Honestly, I told them to do that before the game, so that’s kind of my fault. But that’s because we’ve had some confidence issues shooting. So, I am not mad that we now have confidence when shooting.”   

Alexis McReynolds, Jordyn McMaster and Brooke Bemiss led Apopka in the win. McReynolds had five goals, two assists and two steals, with a 71.4 shooting percentage. McMaster had three goals, one assist and one steal, with a 50.0 shooting percentage. Bemiss had one goal and two assists with a 50.0 shooting percentage. Apopka’s Taylor Sellers had two goals, including the game-winner.   

Goalkeeper Katherine Berens had a fantastic night to go with her outstanding season. Berens is ranked 13th in the nation in saves with 126. She had 12 more saves and allowed six goals in the win over Colonial. She had a 66.66 save percentage after blocking 12 of 18 shots on goal.   

“She is super important,” Edstrom said. “She is phenomenal. This is actually her first year playing goalie. Last year, she was a field player, and we made the switch. She has such a good arm; it helps us out so much on offense and helps us be more dynamic. Then she’s getting blocks left and right, as you saw. Without her, we wouldn’t be as successful as we have been this year.”  

After this week’s matches and this weekend’s tournament at Lyman High School, the team has just two games left in the regular season. On Friday, March 28, the team will travel to Lyman High School for a game set to start at 4:30 p.m. On Saturday, March 29, Apopka will return to Lyman for three tournament matchups against Gainesville, Wekiva and Venice. The Gainesville game is set to start at 9:45 a.m., the Wekiva game is set to begin at 2:15 p.m., and the Venice game will start at 5:15 p.m.  

Boys water polo  

The boys are 7-8, 2-1 in district, and ranked 41st in the state according to MaxPreps on Wednesday, March 26. The team sits third in Class 1A District 1 under Seminole and Lake Brantley but above Lake Mary, Winter Springs and Lyman.   

The boys defeated Colonial 19-5 and broke a three-game losing streak. The boys are now 3-4 in their last seven games, falling to West Orange (20-5), Lyman (15-10), Gainesville (15-9) and Lake Howell (12-9) but defeating Lake Minneola (19-9), Gateway (16-6) and Colonial (19-5). In those four losses, Apopka was outscored 62-33.   

Like the girls team, the boys were dominant from the first whistle of this contest, commanding the first quarter and outscoring Colonial 7-1. Apopka was outscored 4-3 in the second quarter, but that would be the only time. For the rest of the game, Apopka kept Colonial scoreless, with the Darters scoring five goals in the third quarter and four in the fourth quarter.   

Steven Novak, Harry Pennell, Travis Novak and Wyatt Licari led Apopka in the win. Steven Novak, who is ranked 22nd in points and 24th in goals scored in the nation with 86 points and 54 goals, collected two goals, six assists and two steals. Pennell collected six goals. Travis Novak, Steven’s brother, had six assists. Licari collected three goals, two assists and one steal.   

In the goal for Apopka in the win was Travis Novak, who is ranked second in the nation in saves with 185, and his brother Steven. Travis had seven saves and allowed five goals for a 58.34 save percentage for shots on goal. His brother Steven had a great game in the cage, making five saves and allowing zero to achieve a 100 percent save percentage.   

On Friday, March 28, the team will travel to Lyman High School for a game set to start at 5:15 p.m. On Saturday, March 29, Apopka will return to Lyman for three tournament matchups against Gainesville, Wekiva and Venice. The Gainesville game is set to start at 10:30 a.m., the Wekiva game is set to begin at 3 p.m., and the Venice game will start at 6 p.m.