Action was fast and furious at the Tooele High School water polo tournament last weekend at Pratt Aquatic Center. Eight teams competed in the event in a 24-hour period. Seven games went into sudden-death overtime.

Most of the games were significant because they were applied to the seeding process for the upcoming state tournament. A seeding game between Cedar City and Canyon View Canyon went into three overtime periods before the game was decided on a buzzer-ending shot by Cedar City.

Tooele had a very successful tournament, winning all seven games they played.

The Buffs began first by playing a boys and girls varsity game with 3A powerhouse Cedar city on Friday night.

The girls defeated Cedar City by a lopsided score of 14-3. Scoring was shared pretty evenly among the team with Mary Burden and Kylei Riding sharing high scoring honors of three goals a piece. Kristin Andersen, Tiffani Smith, and Courtney each added two goals a person. Also scoring with one goal each were Meredith Bridges and Litia Garr.

The boys' game was a much closer affair.

James Stoddard started the scoring during a power play in the second quarter, giving the Buffs a 1-0 lead. The game went back and forth, with Mat Snarr nailing a goal in the third quarter. Then Tooele fell behind, but a shot at the goal by Matt Ricci with 2 seconds on the clock, threw the game into a sudden-death overtime.

Coming nearly to the end of a physical, and hard fought overtime period, the Cedar City goalie got ejected after an over aggressive play on the Tooele center. With a quick reaction by Mat Snarr, the Tooele boys were able to come away with a win after he made the shot on an open cage. The defense led by goalie Kyle Cooper, Stoddard and Stefen Chevalier helped save the day.

Later on Friday, Tooele would cross swords with 4A rival Utah county.

The girls game was almost a repeat of the earlier boys game with Cedar. The game was knotted up after four quarters of play, but a timely score by Burden with one minute left on the overtime clock, sealed the game in favor of the Tooele girls. Burden playing in the hole, or center position, led all scorers with three goals, including the overtime shot.

Also shining as a counter-attack specialist was Meredith Bridges who added two more points. Tiffani Smith and Erika Andrews finished out the scoring with a goal each. It was the defensive efforts by Andersen, Stubbs, and Andrews in as the center defender, and goalie Stacy Hughes, that really made the difference.

The boys dominated against Utah County with an 11-4 victory. In a spread out scoring attack, Matt Ricci was the leading scorer with three goals, with Snarr, and Josh Slater added two goals each. Rounding out the scoring was Cody Dalton, Skyler Smith, Tanner Marshall, and Dustin Perkins, each with a single goal.

The Buffs began Saturday's schedule with a girls game over a young, inexperience Copper Hills team. It allowed the opportunity for many of the reserves to get some significant playing time. The score was very balanced with one score each by Mary Burden, Allison Bowers, Kayla Crouch, Kylei Riding, Kristin Andersen, Chelsea Smaellie, Tiffani Smith, and Bailey Dalton. The final score was Tooele 8, Copper Hills 4.

The final games of the tournament for Tooele were against the Delta teams.

The girls began play by coming up with an 8-2 victory.

After a very sluggish first quarter, the Buffs got the cannons booming with Burden once again leading the way with four goals, followed by Bridges with two scores, and one goal each by Smith, and Andersen.

The final match of the tournament was also an unbalanced affair with the Tooele boys topping the Delta boys 13-6.

Josh Slater, in the center position led the attack with a game high four goals, adding three scores was powermeister Ricci.

Cody Dalton and Stefen Chevalier each contributed two goals apiece, with Mat Snar and Andrew Adams completing the scoring with one goal per player.

Tooele water polo teams hope to use this tournament as a springboard to prepare for a tough competition in Cedar City, as they have been invited to join in as one of the top ten teams in the state as part of the Utah Summer Games.

mwatson@tooeletranscript.com