By Emily MacNeil
The Pioneer water polo team hosted a pool full of teams last weekend in their annual Early Bird Tournament. They split matches between Hill Pool and the Bird bath with 13 teams playing a total of 34 games.
Pioneer fielded two teams for the tournament. The purple team won 4 out of 5 games, losing only to St. Charles out of Ohio. Leading scorers were seniors Sawyer Thompson, 15 goals, Mark Flautner, 13 goals, and Liam MacNeil, 12 goals. Sophomore Elijah Almeida had an impressive number of steals (18) followed by Mark Flautner and Sawyer Thompson (14 each). Senior goalie Matthew Christiansen saved 27 shots over four of the games with four steals.
The Pioneer white team, comprised mostly of underclassmen, went 0-5 but gained plenty of experience for the upcoming year. The team was led by junior Ben Worden (7 goals), junior Jake Edwards (6 goals) and senior Trey Chappell (5 goals). Junior Kai Whitaker and sophomore Alex Heberlein tied for most steals with six followed by Ben Worden. Senior goalie George Frost had 22 saves with 2 steals and 1 assist for four of the games.
The Pioneers will be traveling to Upper Arlington on Aug. 30-31 for another tournament.
