The girls water polo team fell to the Leigh Longhorns 12-10 in their game on Saturday afternoon.
The Bears did not start the match off on their best foot, and the Longhorns took advantage of that, scoring three times in the first three minutes of the game. Despite their initial funk, senior Captain Sabine Polly got the Bears back on track with a killer goal off an assist from senior Scarlett Shenk.
Although the Longhorns retaliated with another point, Polly sank her second goal of the game with 2:39 on the clock, leaving Leigh with a 4-2 lead. The quarter progressed slowly as the Bears made repeated shot attempts, but the Longhorn goalkeeper was a force in the cage.
Leigh extended their lead even further with a goal in the final minute, ending the first quarter with the Bears in a 5-2 deficit.
Heading into the second quarter, the Bears ramped up their intensity in order to match their opponents. The Longhorns won the sprint, but could not score past sophomore goalkeeper Fiona McGaraghan. Shenk began to close the score gap, sinking a goal for the Bears with 3:46 left on the clock.
M-A stayed strong on defense with steals from Polly and blocks from both McGaraghan and Shenk. This allowed the Bears’ offense to start to catch back up, and junior Harper Williams planted her first goal of the game with just one minute remaining. She attempted to score again, but was unable to sink the ball, and the first half ended again in favor of the Longhorns, 5-4.
“We had to make a lot of quick adjustments to Leigh’s game plan, and there was a lot more offensive creativity in this game than we’ve had at past games, which was really good,” Polly said.
The Bears dove into the second half with new energy, determined to make a comeback. Although Leigh scored their sixth goal of the game, Shenk quickly retaliated by scoring off a five-meter penalty shot with 5:13 left.
Leigh scored twice more by the fourth minute of the quarter, but the Bears were not discouraged. The Longhorns left their goal wide open, making room for Shenk to rack in another point off a long pass from McGaraghan, setting the score at 8-6 with three minutes left.
The Longhorns scored twice more in the final minutes of the third quarter, but M-A called a timeout to recollect. With just six seconds on the clock, Shenk planted her fourth goal, slightly closing the gap to 10-7, concluding the quarter with the Longhorns still in the lead.
The Bears opened the final quarter aggressive on defense but were quickly overwhelmed by Leigh’s attacks and called a timeout to strategize. The break paid off as senior Gabby Rothstein found the net with 5:32 on the clock.
Despite a lack of scoring, the quarter was lively with shot attempts rattling off from both teams until Leigh called a timeout in the fourth minute of the quarter. Following the timeout, the Longhorns sank their 11th goal, but junior Sarah Coolican* countered it with one of her own.
In the final minute, Leigh tallied another point, not without Coolican hot on their tails, sinking the ball immediately after, making the score 12-10. A final M-A timeout was called with just 46 seconds left, and even though a comeback seemed out of reach, the Bears’ energy did not falter.
“This was one of the best games that we played the whole season. I think we did a terrific job implementing a ton of the skills that we learned. It was a really good culmination of all of our progress,” Polly said.
Once the clock started up again, both the Longhorns and the Bears attempted final shots, but were unsuccessful, and the game ended in favor of the Longhorns, 12-10. “I think this game was a great way to end our season. Of course we are sad it’s come to an end, but we gave it our all and got to have fun doing it,” senior goalkeeper Brealyn Trujillo said.
This game concluded the Bears’ season. They came out with a league championship and finished 26th in CCS with a record of 13-11.
*Sarah Coolican is a journalist for the M-A Chronicle.
