American Canyon, Calif. - The Cardinal Newman Boys and Girls Water Polo teams earned victories in the opening round of the Vine Valley League Playoffs.  In the Girls match up vs Ukiah things looked bleak early on as the Wildcats raced out to an early 4-1 lead.  The match was very physical early on but Newman withstood the attack and began to chip away making it 6-4 at the half.

Newman scored first in the third but Ukiah regained momentum and took a 8-5 lead.  CN scored the final two goals of the quarter setting up the 4th quarter dramatics.

The Cardinals tied the score as the intensity rose pool side.

Moments later Lydia Cunningham untied it giving Newman its first lead at 9-8.  Goalie Marika Tuberville made some nice saves down the stretch and after a brief tie, Newman pulled away withe the two final goals to advance to the Semi-finals with an 11-9 win.

Next up CN plays #1 seeded Vintage at 7PM Wednesday in Napa.  

Napa, Calif. - The Boys team took care of Petaluma 19-7.  The #1 seeded Cardinals went out to 5-2 lead after one and 12-3 at the break.

Newman featured a balanced scoring attack with Mathias and Tomas McCarthy along with Tyson Guttormsen each scoring 3 goals. Josh Trebe, Brody Hansel and Mason Ballard scored twice and registered 5 blocks for the Cardinals.

Next up in the Semis, Newman plays #4 Napa at 5PM Wednesday at Vintage HS.