Jan 8 - Portland, OR

Northwest teams brought in the New Year with style, opening their 2023 campaign with the annual New Years Tournament hosted by Tualatin Hills Water Polo Club (T-Hills). The annual event features some of the top club and masters' teams from Washington and Oregon, who all worked off a little rust as they got into the New Year of water polo. Northwest took six teams to the tournament including three 14u teams, 16u boys, 18u boys and 18u girls. Over the weekend NWPC squads put forth a solid effort earning mixed results against some tough competition. 

NWPC 18u boys started their tournament off hot, posting a 13-6 win over Blue Crush. Game two on Saturday had the team matched up against Lake Oswego and defense lead the way for a second time as the boys posted a 14-5 win. Game three against the Old Guys was a tough affair but the squad pulled off the 12-7 win before moving to drop T-Hills 18s 15-7. The boys 4-0 record placed them in the semifinals against Blue Crush Sunday morning. Unfortunately, the boys couldn't quite keep pace with the masters the second time around, dropping the match 12-13. In the 3rd place game against Old Guys both teams put forth a great effort which results in a 7-7 tie. Over the weekend the 18s went 4-1-1 to finish the tournament in 3rd place. 

 The 16u boys got off to a slow start against Blue Crush in game one, ending the contest 11-15. Saturday the 16s rebounded with a scrimmage win over the 14s before dropping a well-played game to Lake Oswego 8-14. To cap off their Saturday the 16s earned a great team win against T-Hills 18-9. Sunday the squad match up against T-Hills one more time and came away with 12-7 win to end the tournament with a 3-2 record and a third-place finish. 

NW 14u boys had a tough task for the weekend, competing up against the 16u teams. Game one was an eye opener as the boys fell to T-Hills 16s 2-9. Game two saw everyone take to the water in a scrimmage against the Northwest 16s before moving on to face Blue Crush. While the 14s fought hard against their OR opponents the team fell short 2-13. In their last game on Saturday the team had a tough round against Lake Oswego, coming up short 0-14 to finish the tournament with a 0-4 record. 

NWPC 14u, 12u and 10u athletes split time between two teams, NW coed 1 and NW  coed 2 in the 14u division. The NW coed 1 team had a tough 3-7 loss to Lake Oswego Black on Friday but turned around to win a nail biting 13-12 game over T-Hills. The squad dropped a close 9-11 match to Blue Crush Saturday night before wrapping things up with a 11-6 win over Lake Oswego Red. The NW 1 team went 2-2 over the weekend to finish the tournament in third place. NW coed 2 had a great 8-10 game against Lake Oswego Black on Friday. Saturday morning the team start slow, dropping their game against Blue Crush 1-10. Saturday afternoon the team played hard but came up short against T-Hills 4-10. 

Northwest girls made the most of a tough situation, battling with T-Hills 18s and masters in a series of scrimmage games. The girls gained some valuable experience against their older competition, splitting the series over the weekend. 

Congratulations to all our teams, coaches, athletes and parents on a great weekend of water polo! Northwest will be back in action the third weekend of Jan with local scrimmages and the PSP Snowball tournament for HS girls. 

Official tournament scores/results here