Johansen water polo advances to semis

By Stu Rosenberg
srosenberg@modbee.com

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Gabi Mantellato put on a clinic and the Johansen girls water polo team put Franklin away early in Friday's CIF Sac-Joaquin Section Division I playoff opener at Johansen High.

Mantellato, setting the offense to perfection throughout the match, and Brooke Fuller scored five goals apiece to lead the Vikings to a 24-1 victory against the overmatched Wildcats of Elk Grove, who found themselves staring at a 12-0 deficit one quarter into the match.

Johansen, undefeated champion of the Modesto Metro Conference, improved to 29-3 overall on the season and advanced to Wednesday's quarterfinals at Tokay High in Lodi, where the Vikings will meet St. Mary's of Stockton at 11 a.m.

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"We did a lot of good things today," Johansen coach Brent Bohlender said. "We played a good defensive game, had a real strong counter attack, which helped us get up 12-0 early, and everybody got a chance to play.

"We also had eight girls score, so that was cool."

Taylor Hanson scored four goals, Kaysie Lewis had three and Hillary Niel, Ashley Raynor and Virginia Lohr tallied twice each for the Vikings.

And it was Mantellato setting her teammates up at every turn with an array of precision passes that left Franklin off-balance and defenseless to stop the Brazilian foreign exchange student from dictating the action.

"Gabi just played a great game," said Bohlender. "She was definitely in control."

Mantellato even had a hand in Franklin's only goal, accidentally deflecting a shot into the net with Vikings goaltender Brooke McGee (five saves) leaning the other way.

Mantellato, who moved into the back row after the Vikings' first-quarter scoring surge, punctuated a dominating first-half performance by scoring from nearly three-quarters the length of the pool just ahead of the halftime buzzer.

"She looked at me and I was like 'go ahead' " Bohlender said of the last-second shot, which drew "oohs" and "ahhs" from the crowd.

Earlier in the day, Turlock overcame an early 5-0 deficit to defeat Napa, 7-6. The Bulldogs face Davis Sr. Wednesday at 10 a.m. at Tokay.

Oakdale saw its season end with a 14-2 loss to defending Division 1 section champion St. Francis of Sacramento. Savannah Stender provided all the scoring for the Mustangs.

"It was a rough one," Oakdale coach Alan Stender said. "St. Francis is the defending section champion, so we knew it was going to be a tough matchup.

"The girls were just happy to be here and that they made it to the dance."

In other matches, Central California Conference champion Los Banos lost 6-4 to Tokay, Vintage of Napa pinned an 11-4 loss on Modesto and St. Mary's held off a game Merced squad, 7-4, in the final match of the day.