By Emily Edgcombe
The Pioneer water polo team traveled to the west side of the state for two tournaments on Sept. 21-22. The varsity team split up into two teams and competed in Hudsonville and Zeeland. The JV team went to Rockford.
Pioneer Purple played well against Rockford, New Trier (IL), West Ottawa and Hudsonville but came up short on wins. Scores: Rockford 5-10, New Trier 4-12, West Ottawa 5-19, Hudsonville 9-7. Game highlights included 16 goals for senior Liam MacNeil, followed by 9 for senior Mark Flautner. Mark Flautner also had 14 steals followed by sophomore Elijah Almeida with 13. Senior Matthew Christiansen had 24 saves!
Pioneer White played a tough varsity field at the tournament. They went 0-4 against Hudsonville who is ranked 3rd in the state 12-5, Zeeland 13-6, Jenison who is ranked 2nd in the state 15-4 and Grand Haven 8-6. Junior Ben Worden had at least 13 goals for the tournament. Sophomore Isak Wood had at least 6 steals for the weekend!
JV played only 3 games due to a team dropping out. Against EGR, they lost 11-5, Rockford 12-7 and Hudsonville 8-7.
Pioneer hosts Saline on Tuesday, Sept. 24 and Dexter on Wednesday, Sept. 25. Varsity plays at 6:15 and JV will be at 7:15
