Greenwich Water Polo's 16

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Greenwich Water Polo's Tyler Triscari has helped lead the Greenwich Water Polo 16-U team into the Platinum Division of the Junior Olympics. July 2012.

In the opening two days of the boys' Junior Olympics in the Palo Alto region of California, the Greenwich Water Polo teams were led by its two older groups as the 18-U squad went 3-2, while the 16-U side went 2-3. The difference in the order of wins, however, landed the 16s in the Platinum Division, the upper half of the 48 teams in their age-group. The 18s meanwhile ended up in the Gold Division, the lower half of the 48 teams.

In the preliminary rounds, the 16s defeated Mad Dog Water Polo of St. Louis Missouri 8-4. They were led by Tyler Triscari and Ben Wurst, each of whom scored three goals. In goal, Steven Michaud made even saves. After losing to Southern California's Orange County team 11-3, GWP came back to defeat Greenwich Aquatics 9-3, earning its way into the Platinum division. Qunetin Montgomery, Patrick Judge and Mack Neary each had a pair of goals in the victory, while Nick Hyden and Max Zim added solo tallies. Michaud made 10 saves. The two wins earned them the privilege of playing against some of the top teams in the country, against whom their offense sputtered. They lost to Los Alamitos, Calif. 12-4 and Lamorinda, Calif. 10-2. In each game Hyden scored twice.

Against their prelim bracket opponents, the GWP 18s played three nerve-wracking games. Against the Gulliver Riptides of Miami GWP fought back three times from two-goal deficits to tie the game. After a 6-6 deadlock in the third, the Florida team scored the final two goals to win 8-6. James Baker, Steve Grune each scored twice as Will Klingner &and Sean Lyons added one. Alex Ekstein made 10 saves in goal. Against the Davis (Calif.) water polo club, GWP squeaked out a 9-8 win. Matt Fraser led the scoring with three goals, followed by Baker and Grune with two each with Lyons and Tim Hardman adding single tallies.

The third game against a combined team playing under the Pittsburgh banner was a see-saw battle that ended in regulation in an 11-11 tie. Grune had 5 goals, Baker 3, Lyons 2 and Fraser one. The tie was broken in a dramatic shootout with each team scoring in the first 7 rounds. Finally, in round eight, a GWP shot was blocked and the Greenwich 18s dropped into the Gold Division.

The loss brought about an 11-10 win over International Red WPC of Los Angeles followed by a more relaxing 15-6 win over Scots WPC from Boca Raton, Fla. Against Red WPC, Grune again led the scoring with four goals, Fraser nailed a hat trick, as Baker and Klingner each hit the net twice. Eckstein pulled down seven saves. Against Scots, Grune and Fraser each scored four times, Lyons twice, Baker, Klingner, John Enquist and Henry McMillen once.

A young 14-U team rebounded from a 16-3 loss to the Stanford A squad to defeat Raiders WP of South Florida 15-4. In the win, Jack Capossela tallied five goals, Ron Casella netted four, followed by two from Cameron Liflander and Brad Paradise, and one apiece from Andrew Triscari and Kevin Downey. Another one-sided game, a 15-3 loss against Capo Valley, Calif. sent the GWP 14s into the Gold Division.

Their first Gold Division game was a 16-12 win over Thunder Water Polo from Dallas. Goalie Matt Ambrose kept his team in the game with a dozen saves and two assists. Paradise scored six goals and Capossela five. Triscari, Downey, Owen Byrnes, Neil Meehan and Joseph Peters each had one in the win. In their final second-day game, the Newport Beach squad ran up the score in a 32-8 loss for the CT team.

The GWP 12-U felt like its riding a roller coaster after a weekend of dramatic ups and downs. The 12s lost its first preliminary game to San Diego Shores 15-4, but then came back to beat VC Premier of Palos Verdes, Calif. 15-13. Garrett Towne led the scoring with five goals. Brian O'Leary tossed in four while Mack Baxter and Kevin Grune notched a pair, with Christian Farricker and Noah Sorensen each scoring once.

Like their senior counterparts, the 12s third prelim game ended in an 11-11 tie that was settled by a shoot-out, which it lost 4-3. The regulation time goals were spread out among six players -- Grune with 3, Towne and Brian O'Leary with two each and Baxter, Farricker, Sorensen and Tegan D'Agostino each with 1. With a 1-2 record, the GWP 12s entered to Gold Division of their tournament.

On Day 2, they 12s suffered two tough defeats -- 20-2 to Stanford A and 10-2 to Los Angeles WPC. That night GWP came back against American River of Sacramento, Calif. with a 16-8 victory. Towne scored four times while Farricker and O'Leary each recorded hat tricks. Grune and John Steele scored twice. Sorensen and Baxter were on the scoreboard once. In his best game in goal, David Kelly had three saves and two assists.