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Sports

Area Teams Take Two Of Top Three Spots in Founder's Cup

Ladue and John Burroughs had strong showings in the Founder's Cup water polo tournament this weekend, with the Rams falling to De Smet to take second place overall, and the Bombers winning the third place game over Kirkwood.

Area water polo teams fared well at the Founder's Cup this weekend, with putting together a second place finish, and knocking off Kirkwood to claim the third spot overall.

The Rams were 5-1 in tournament play before falling 12-7 to De Smet in the final match. Ladue knocked off John Burroughs 9-7 in a semi-final game, in what was one of the better matches of the competition.

"De Smet is playing great water polo right now, and we've been improving on the season, but we need to work on our shooting from the outside in order to beat a team like them," said Ladue coach Corey Miller.

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The Rams saw the return of senior Max Wahl, who was kept out of the previous weekend's Lafayette Invitational tournament due to injury. Wahl was tough at both ends of the pool, creating turnovers on defense, and contributing to the offense with solid shooting.

"We played well in the tournament, but we need to do better with positioning, communication and defense in front of the net...we're looking forward to another chance at De Smet," said Wahl after the final.

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Ladue posted victories over Clayton, University City, Kirkwood, and Ft. Zumwalt West to earn a spot in the finals.

John Burroughs had the unlucky draw of facing De Smet in the first game of the tournament, and dropped that one 12-5. But the Bombers bounced back and went on to win their next three games, outscoring their opponents 41-9 during that stretch.

Scoring was not a problem for Burroughs, as they saw 28 goals from senior Scott Steinhouse over the course of the Founder's Cup.

Bombers' coach Steve Stiffelman also noted the performance of junior Jason Gusdorf as standing out during the tournament.

"We played for seventh place last year, so moving up to third place is a nice accomplishment, on top of taking first at the Summit tournament last weekend, so I'm pleased with how we're playing," said Stiffelman.

Ladue plays Parkway Central at home on Monday, and then travels to MICDS for a game on April 13. John Burroughs plays Parkway West on Monday, and then takes on University City on the road April 14.

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