Rain City Water Polo Youth Earn Top Finishes at Nike Open Water Tourney in Oregon

Mercer Island-based Rain City Water Polo youth select teams challenged for top spots at the Nike Open Water Tournament, July 15-18, hosted by Willamette Valley Water Polo Club. 

On the scenic shores of Foster Lake, OR the Blue and Green 14u boys, 16u boys, 16u girls and 18u girls worked hard over three days resulting in solid performances from all teams.

The 14u boys faced a tough challenge playing up in the 16u bracket during the tournament. 

First up on Monday was Oregon club T-Hills.  Rain City came out of the gate slow but managed to put some distance between themselves and the T-Hills during the second quarter, resulting in a 12-4 win. 

In their second game of the day the 14u’s got the opportunity to play up against California club Rangers 18u team.  Intensity was the theme as the 14u’s came out firing, scoring the first two goals and going up early.  However Rangers managed to regain control during the second half, besting the Rain City 14’s by a final score of 4-12.  Tuesday brought more action against Californians as the boys faced off against Northern Elite.  The boys came ready to play and ended the game with a solid victory.  Wednesday morning the boys played tournament hosts Willamette Valley and managed to climb back from a 3-1 first quarter deficit to win the game 10-6. 

In the final game of the tournament the 14u’s squared off against T-Hills one more time, managing to win the game by a score of 12-7.   For their efforts the 14u boys ended up taking first place in the 16u bracket.

Rain City 16u boys also played up all weekend, participating in the 18u bracket.  Games started on Tuesday with a bang as the 16’s faced off against T-Hills, Albuquerque and Rangers.  With the scored tied 2-2 after one quarter Rain City managed to pull away from T-Hills to end the game with a solid win by a score of 12-5.  Albuquerque was up next with Rain City managing to secure their 2nd win of the tournament by a score of 10-2.  Ranger presented the final challenge on Tuesday afternoon and what a game it was.  After a back and forth affair Rain City managed to come out on top with a 11-10 victory, securing the one seed and spot in the finals bracket.  Wednesday saw the 16’s play Oregon club Blue Crush and after a slow first quarter the blue and green pulled away for a 11-8 victory. 

The final game of the 16’s tournament saw the boys face off against host Willamette Valley for first place.  After a back and forth battle the boys managed to pull off an 11-8 win.  The 16’s followed in the footsteps on the 14u boys, taking home first place honors in the 18u bracket.

Rain City brought two girls teams down to the Nike Open Water, 16u and 18u.  Many of the 16u girls played up in the 18u bracket, finishing off the weekend with 10 games in 3 days.  Day one saw the girls play against Oregon club T-Hills, Californian club American River and Oregon locals Blue Crush. 

The girls put together some great games but came up just short, losing to T-Hills 4-6, falling just short to American River 16’s 4-5 and narrowly dropping the game against Blue Crush 5-7.  Tuesday was a new day as the girls faced off against tournament host Willamette Valley, Oregon club Lake Oswego,  T-Hills and local team Bend.  The girls came back with renewed energy managing a solid 6-3 win against Willamette and another win against T-Hills girls.  The girls dropped their game against Lake Oswego after a hard fought battle by a score of 9-4.  Another tough game had the girls dropping their contest to Bend by a score of 7-3.  Wednesday had the girls matched up against California clubs American River and Blazer in the morning.  American River came out strong in the first quarter and kept the lead, resulting in a 10-3 loss for the 18u girls.  The next game against Blazer had a similar tone as the Californian club went up early by a score of 5-0 at half. 

Rain City girls stepped up on defense in the second half but ended up dropping the const 2-7.  The final game of the tournament had the girls play another Oregon club Chehalem, resulting in a great 7-2 win for the blue and green.  For their efforts the 16u girls took home 3rd place and the 18u girls finished in 7th.

The teams will be back in action for the 2013 Junior Olympics down in Orange County, CA starting on July 27th.