Visiting East Union and Sierra split a water polo doubleheader Wednesday.

The boys game was tied at 3 after the first period when the Lancers scored the next five goals and never looked back in a 14-8 Valley Oak League win — the first ever against their cross-town rival.

The Timberwolves rebounded in the girls game and won, 14-1.

“We had a nice long talk after the end of the first quarter,” East Union boys coach Jesse Reidt said. “We couldn’t be lazy and we needed better communication. Getting back on defense was the main thing.

“We couldn’t get beat on the counter, because considering past history, Sierra was always faster than us. Them locking in after the first period, paying attention, playing smart was the difference.”

James Russell scored three goals for East Union (3-2 VOL, 5-6 overall), which is having its best season. The boys team had never won a league game in previous years and got off the schneid on Sept. 21 with a 13-9 home win over Mountain House. They followed that with a 9-3 win against Patterson.

“I think we came into this game a little too overconfident,” Russell said. “We saw that they had lost to someone we had already beat so we thought this may have been a walk in the park.

“We probably should have taken it a little more seriously.”’

Tyse Goodwin was double teamed most of the afternoon for the Lancers but managed a pair of fourth-period goals on rebounds and finished with three.

“They were doubling me in set,” Goodwin said. “Clearly, they didn’t want me to score but I still got the hat trick.

“When you get double-teamed you have to find other ways to score, and I did that with the rebounds.”

East Union goalie Sawyer Allen blocked a pair of penalty shots and capped the scoring with a full-length shot into an empty net for the goal.

“I don’t typically block 5-meter shots,” Allen said. “They’re really hard to block. Blocking two in a game feels great.

“And obviously scoring a goal as a goalie is a cool thing to do and I’m proud of my team too.”

Drew Souza paced the Lancers with four goals.

Dailin Murray, Kody Stone and Noah Brum tallied a pair of goals each for the Timberwolves (0-5, 3-11).

“They capitalized on our mistakes, and they were hungry, big time,” Sierra coach Lauren Koury said. “We made a few mistakes, and in a tight game like this, the team with the most mistakes typically loses.”

Sierra (4-1, 8-11) scored the first six goals of the girls contest and led 12-1 at halftime. The Timberwolves were led by Phoebe Burke who found the net five times.

“I was able to work on stuff in practice, and I had really good help from our coach Gianna (Ramos),” Burke said. “And I got amazing passes from my teammates as well.”

Sierra’s Anya Muddam started in the net and tallied seven saves before moving to the field and scoring a goal.

“I just wanted to lock in for this game and try my best,” Muddam said.

Rylee Danel scored three goals before moving into the net for the Timberwolves in the final period where she got three saves.

“I felt really good because it was my senior night,” Danel said. “And I wanted to have fun. Getting to be in goal the last period was fun.”

Koury pulled double duty as the girls coach as well.

“It was a great win,” Koury said. “It is great to have a win on senior night and the girls worked on a few things we needed to work on in season.

“We wanted to make sure we got some playing time for those who haven’t had a lot of playing time during the season. We got a couple of first timers with goals today. It was just a great win.”

Kendyll Wright scored the lone goal for East Union (0-4, 1-16).

“It’s a learning experience for the girls,” Lancers coach Landon Wolfe said. “They are all brand new players and playing against higher-competition players is good for them for next season.

“It’s a learning curve.”

Both schools finish their VOL campaigns on the road Tuesday with Sierra traveling to Patterson and East Union going up the hill to Sonora with the girls games starting at 4 p.m. and the boys to follow.