NORTH West was handed a tough first-day draw at the CHS boys’ water polo carnival at Albury yesterday but emerged from the pool with plenty to smile about.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
After two games the North West boys have a good win and a narrow loss to their name and a semi-final berth is already in the offing.
Game one was against Sydney North and it proved to be one of North West’s best games in a long time.
Some quick reactions in attack and defence put North West ahead and it went on with the job to win 7-3.
Oxley High’s Max Colby and Farrer’s Laarn White scored two goals each for North West while Tamworth High’s Jay Neville, Nathan Pyne and Sam Crelley all slotted one apiece.
“It was a lot of good team work,” North West manager Samantha Doust said.
“They set up play really well and Max had a really good game at centre forward.
“We drew a lot of exclusions and we were able to convert those.”
The second game was against a strong Hunter side and North West found itself 5-2 down.
But a fightback saw North West cut the deficit to one goal and then apply plenty of pressure on the Hunter goal.
“It was a very good game,” Doust said.
“We had a lot of opportunities and, unlike in the first game, we didn’t convert them.
“It was very tight and we were actually 5-2 down.
“We came back to make it 5-4 and we had opportunities to either get a draw or win, but we didn’t convert.
“It was a strong defensive effort. We stopped most of their chances.
“Max and Sam had really solid games.”
Tamworth High’s Josh Lewis scored two of North West’s goals while White and Jackson Crelley added the others.
North West has three games on day two today.
It faces Sydney South West, one of the carnival favourites Sydney East, and Sydney West, and will aim for at least two wins from three to cement a place in the top four.
The last round robin games will be played tomorrow and North West will aim to be part of the semi-finals on Thursday.