On Saturday, the girls water polo team lost to the Palo Alto (Paly) Vikings by a score of 11-3.
The game started and things were looking promising for the Bears as they were winning 1-0 through the first quarter. Despite the early momentum, Paly was able to score with just one minute left on a quick counterattack. The quarter expired with the score 1-1.
The second quarter started with strong attacks from both teams, but neither team was able to find the back of the net. The Vikings finally broke down the M-A defense and scored their second goal of the game with 4:14 left in the first half.
Despite trailing, the Bears’ attacker continued to pummel the Paly defense with attacking chances. Even though M-A created a lot of chances, Paly quickly countered and missed their first shot, but followed it up with a quick rebound making it 3-1 with 2:46 left in the half.
Paly scored again on another counter attack making it 4-1 shortly after their third. The Bears kept attacking and eventually found their second goal, when sophomore Scarlett Shank rebounded a shot that originally went off the post.
As the second quarter winded down, Paly scored two more goals and the Bears went into half down 6-2.
The second half started with both teams playing tough defense, but Paly found the first goal of the half with 4:08 left in the third quarter. The Bears continued to try to look for a goal with a big opportunity resulting in the ball bouncing off the top of the crossbar.
The Bears were narrowly denied again after a shot from Shank bounced off the post. The third quarter ended with M-A trailing by a score of 7-2.
The fourth quarter started with the Bears scoring first, the M-A goal came from a great passing link up between M-A players led to a second goal by Shank with 5:51 left in the game. The Vikings quickly scored their eighth goal right after, dashing the hopes of a comeback for M-A.
The Bears continued to attack and found the bar of the goal yet again with just 3:05 minutes remaining. Paly won a penalty and proceeded to whip the ball into the net past the Bears’ keeper, extending their lead to six with just three minutes left.
Later in the quarter, two more Paly goals left the final score at 11-3. After the game, senior Abby Ko said, “It was an unfortunate result in our first game, but I think we will grow as a team and do better as the season goes on.”
