Hornets stings Puyallup; snap winning streak

Everyone knew it would have to end sometime, and the Puyallup girl's water polo team Friday gave it everything they had until the very end in an attempt to extend their 29-game regular season winning streak. The Viks came up just short, dropping a tough and heartbreaking 8-7 decision to Enumclaw. The loss not only snaps the winning streak which dates back to last season, but also puts Puyallup a game back in the race for its second straight league title. Puyallup knew going into the game that it was going to be a close contest and that proved to be just the case. Enumclaw scored 30 seconds into the contest on an uncontested shot. Paige Boyer tied it up on a power play 28 seconds later. Following a Boyer ejection Enumclaw took the lead back with 5:26 left to play in the quarter. It stayed 2-1 until Hope Mahnken drilled home a shot from 5 meters out on another power play with 30 seconds gone in the second quarter. The score remained knotted at two until 2:17 left when the Hornets found the net. Enumclaw then scored two more goals in the next minute to take a commanding 5-2 lead into halftime. Puyallup didn't panic though and showed resolve in the second half to battle back. Its defense was solid all night as Alex Clark was tough in goal and Mahnken and Katie Hayes contested Enumclaw's barrage of outside shots. After the first gimme goal, Puyallup forced the Hornets to earn the rest of their scores. With the defense standing strong, Joanna Boschee' provided what was probably a shot of the year for her, as she faked right, submerged under water and came up left and drained a six meter shot in the upper right corner of the deep end goal. She followed that shot up with a penalty shot that got the Vikings back to 6-5. Even though Puyallup outscored the Hornets in the second half, 5-3, it could never get the game back to even and was forced to play catch up. Boyer got Puyallup within one at 7-6 early in the fourth. The score was clutch as she just re-entered the game after sitting out the majority of the game with two ejections. The Hornets pushed it to 8-6 with 6:18 left after Boschee' was ejected. The Vikings then took a major hit as Boschee' picked up her final ejection foul with 5:53 left to play. The score stayed at 8-6 until Boyer lobbed a score over the outstretched arms of the Hornet goalie to make it 8-7 with 3:43 left. In a frustrating finish, Puyallup had two chances to force overtime. Boyer missed an outside shot with 32 seconds left. And following a delay of game call against Enumclaw, Puyallup had six seconds to get a shot off and Katie Hayes' five meter shot was just wide and Enumclaw's celebration in Puyallup's pool got underway. Puyallup will look to start a new winning streak next Wednesday when Auburn-Riverside comes to town for a 7:30 pm game.