The La Porte Lady Dawgs opened the tournament with an instant classic against Klein Oak, battling through four quarters and a shootout to earn a dramatic victory.

Sophomore Addilynn Morara got La Porte on the board first, followed by Freshman Sophie Bocanegra, giving the Lady Dawgs an early 2–0 advantage. Klein Oak responded with three consecutive goals to take a 3–2 lead at the end of the first quarter. La Porte came out firing in the second quarter, scoring five goals to regain control of the game. The Lady Dawgs' defense also stepped up in a big way, recording four steals while limiting Klein Oak to just two goals. La Porte carried the momentum into the third quarter, adding four more goals to take an 11–8 lead heading into the final period. Reigning District Goalie of the Year, Junior Kimberly Manzo, came up with three saves in the third quarter, bringing her total to five saves for the game.

The final six minutes were nothing short of dramatic. Klein Oak opened the fourth quarter with a 3–0 run, cutting La Porte's lead to one with 3:40 remaining. Junior Natalie Chavez, who was having a tremendous offensive performance, answered with her sixth goal of the game to put the Lady Dawgs ahead 12–10. Klein Oak refused to go away, scoring twice to tie the game at 12–12 with 3:20 remaining. Senior Adilyn Smith then came through with a huge goal, giving La Porte a 13–12 lead with just 2:18 left in regulation. After calling a timeout, Klein Oak found the back of the net again with 48 seconds remaining, tying the game at 13–13 and forcing the Lady Dawgs into a shootout.

La Porte won the coin toss and elected to shoot first.

Sophomore Nellie Ortiz stepped up as La Porte's first shooter and calmly found the back of the net to give the Lady Dawgs a 1–0 advantage. Kimberly Manzo then came up with a huge save, stopping Klein Oak's first attempt. Morara was next for La Porte and missed her opportunity on the top of the cross bar, keep the shootout to a 1–0. La Porte Lead. Kimberly Manzo once again delivered, blocking Klein Oak's second shot.

Natalie Chavez stepped up as La Porte's third shooter and scored, putting the Lady Dawgs ahead 2–0. Kimberly Manzo then had another stop to Klein Oak's shooter. La Porte still lead 2-0 in the shootout. Sophie Bocanegra stepped up in a big away in her young playing time and was La Porte's fourth shooter. She needed to score to secure the win and she did exactly that, making the goal to give the win to La Porte 3-0 in a shootout.

La Porte defeated Klein Oak, 13–13 (3–0 shootout).

The victory marked the first shootout win in La Porte water polo program history, with Manzo's three consecutive saves and clutch performances from Ortiz, Morara, and Chavez leading the way.
 

Southwest Legacy vs. La Porte

In their second game of the tournament, the Lady Dawgs faced another hard-fought battle against Southwest Legacy High School from the San Antonio area.

La Porte came out strong, with Natalie Chavez scoring the game's first goal to give the Lady Dawgs a 1–0 lead. Natalie struck again in the second quarter to put La Porte ahead 2–0, but Legacy responded by battling back to tie the game. The two teams continued trading goals throughout the first half, with neither team able to pull away. Legacy eventually took a 6–5 lead into halftime.

The back-and-forth battle continued in the third quarter. Senior Adilyn Smith and Natalie each scored twice, while the La Porte defense held Legacy to just two goals. The Lady Dawgs entered the final quarter with a narrow 9–8 advantage.

The final six minutes once again proved to be a thriller.

Natalie scored her eighth goal of the game to give La Porte a 10–8 lead, but Legacy answered with two consecutive goals to tie the game at 10–10. With 1:32 remaining, Legacy scored again to take an 11–10 lead. La Porte's Goalie, Kimberly Manzo, then came up with a crucial save to keep the Lady Dawgs within striking distance. With the clock winding down, La Porte pushed the ball up the pool, and Coach Stewart called timeout with 40.4 seconds remaining.

Coming out of the timeout, the Lady Dawgs created an opportunity, but Legacy's goalie made the save. Legacy called timeout with just 21.1 seconds remaining. Coach Stewart gave the team a clear message, "press hard, force a foul, get the ball back, and find the open player for the goal. Lets tie this game." The Lady Dawgs executed the plan perfectly. La Porte forced the foul and regained possession. The ball found its way into Natalie's hands, and she fired a shot toward the goal. As the final seconds expired, the ball found the back of the net, sending the game into another shootout.

In the shootout, Legacy was able to gain the advantage, scoring four times compared to La Porte's two goals. Despite the loss, the Lady Dawgs showed tremendous fight, battling until the final second and forcing another shootout in a game that could have gone either way. Southwest Legacy defeated La Porte in a 4-2 shootout.

Through two tournament games, the Lady Dawgs demonstrated their resilience, toughness, and ability to compete under pressure. With two games decided by shootouts, La Porte showed that they are ready to battle until the very end and other teams need to be aware.

Tournament Stats
#1 Kimberly Manzo – 2 assists, 11 saves
#3 Adilyn Smith – 3 goals, 3 assists. 1 steal
#5 Paisley Evans – 2 assists
#7 Sophie Bocanegra – 1 assist, 5 goals, 1 steal
#12 Nellie Ortiz – 2 assists, 2 goals, 2 steal
#13 Addilynn Morara – 4 assists, 2 goal, 8 steals
#14 Natalie Chavez – 1 assist, 17 goals, 3 steal
 
Player of the Game: Sophomore Addilynn Morara (vs. Klein Oak)
Player of the Game: Sophomore Natalie Chavez (vs. Southwest Legacy)
 
 
Next Game: Friday at Caesar E. Chavez High School at 5 pm