48 hours removed from its loss to Central Valley High, Orestimba High water polo bounced back at home with a 14-7 win against Lathrop High on Thursday.

The Warriors improved to 2-3 overall, with its sole wins coming against the Spartans. Lathrop continued its winless season at 0-2 overall.

Orestimba’s Kyler Cordeiro led all scorers with five goals. Joining him was Myles Costa and Diego Mendoza with two goals apiece. Costa and Mendoza were shown to be a tall task for the Spartans’ defense as both scored a combined 11 goals in the two matchups.

Like the Aug. 24 match, Bryce Rebiero was the only Lathrop player who found some offense. He scored four goals against the Warriors’ defense.

While it’s the program’s inaugural season, head coach Scott Barnes said the team is “hungry to learn” and strives on improving each day. “They’re really striving to improve … every single time we come out here and practice, every game they’re looking to improve and do better than what they did the last time,” he said.

Similar to their previous matchup, Orestimba limited Lathrop’s offense. From playing man-to-man defense to contesting shot attempts, the Warriors’ defense led to the Spartans’ taking forcing unnecessary shots near the end of the shot clock.

Orestimba opened with an early 4-0 lead and led 5-1 at the end of the first quarter with the help of two goals from Cordeiro. From that point forward, the team didn’t look back.

Through the rest of the match, the Warriors kept their lead afloat as they always found a response to a Spartans’ goal.

While he might not have a large sample size of where the team has improved, Barnes said the player’s endurance and their knowledge of the sport are among the most noticeable improvements he’s seen from the beginning to now. He added that he’s also learning new things about the sport through each match.

Orestimba will host Modesto High (1-0) on Tuesday, Sept. 1 at 4 p.m.