The girls water polo team overtook the Sequoia Ravens 13-3 in their match on Wednesday evening.
Right off the bat, the energy on the pool deck was high as the girls confidently dove into the game. “We went in with confidence and wanted to beat them. We just had a good attitude,” senior goalkeeper Brealyn Trujillo said.
M-A won the initial sprint, and within the first 15 seconds, senior Isabel Habibi* buried the first goal into the opposing cage. To extend the lead, sophomore Grace Lobdell sank a wide open goal with 4:58 left on the clock
M-A took advantage of Sequoia’s disconnected offense throughout the first quarter and lowered their confidence with block after block by sophomore goalkeeper Fiona McGaraghan. Goal attempts rushed in from both teams, but neither were successful by the time Sequoia called a timeout.
Minimal action happened following the timeout and the quarter ended with M-A leading 3-0.
Remaining dominant, junior Harper Williams won initial possession to start the second quarter. M-A kept the Ravens on their toes through their continuous movement and communication that Sequoia severely lacked.
Taking advantage of the Ravens’ insufficient unification, junior Sarah Coolican* threw a powerful open shot, landing it in the cage. This was quickly followed up by the Ravens fouling senior Molly Gray, leading to her successfully scoring on a 5-meter penalty shot into the lower right corner of the goal.
Trujillo controlled the cage, blocking all goal attempts by Sequoia in the second quarter. M-A extended their lead yet again, with freshman Avery Moeller planting a goal with nine seconds left on the clock.
The Bears closed out the first half with a 7-0 lead. “Our spirits were really high because there was a lot of really good cheering, and everyone was very selfless with passing,” Lobdell said.
Habibi maintained the Bears’ hot streak, winning the sprint for the third quarter. Sequoia successfully stole possession, but not before Lobdell turned it back to the Bears and passed to Habibi, who scored into the lower corner with 5:04 left.
Just 20 seconds later, Habibi sank another wide open goal, giving M-A a whopping 9-0 lead. Although Sequoia’s energy was down, they regained some life after a stroke of luck allowed them to land their first goal of the game with 2:49 left in the third quarter.
This hardly disoriented the Bears, and they managed to immediately bounce back with Lucy Gostyla sinking her second of two attempted 5-meter penalty shots. This caused the bench to reenergize and erupt with cheers, as it was also her birthday.
After some more back and forth play, Sequoia finally found a way to breach the Bears’ defense and scored their second goal with 48 seconds remaining, yet M-A remained composed and ended the third quarter with a 10-2 lead.
Heading into the final quarter, the Bears started with possession after Habibi won the sprint again. Despite this, the Ravens quickly regained the ball, sneaking by M-As’ defense for another goal over Trujillo’s shoulder.
The Bears picked up their pace in the final four minutes with help from a straight on goal by Gray for another point. A rapid chain of events ended the game, with Gostyla sinking a shot with 21 seconds left, followed by senior Scarlett Shank immediately planting another with two seconds on the clock, officially closing out the game.
The match concluded with M-A winning 13-3. “We just really need to stay in this determined head space for the rest of our season,” Gostyla said.
The Bears will take on the Terra Nova Tigers at home next Thursday at 5 p.m.
*Isabel Habibi and Sarah Coolican are journalists for the M-A Chronicle.
