Girls water polo: Team loses 6-5 in a close match against Wilcox HS

On Oct. 6, girls water polo played a home game against Wilcox HS. Although it was a close match, the Matadors lost to WHS with a score of 6:5.

In the first quarter, WHS proved to be fierce competitors as they scored their first goal of the game. MVHS was only able to score in the last 50 seconds of the quarter, battling WHS’ tough defense.

WHS scored multiple times, swimming past MVHS’ defense and scoring. The Lady Mats came together and managed to catch up by passing quickly to each other and looking around for open players. For one goal, Deacon, with a pass from senior Monica Ravichandran, shot the ball in with a quick tip, the ball just missing the fingertips of the WHS goalie. Junior Shannon Reid shot and scored a few minutes later, a sun screened-covered smile appearing on her face as the Matadors pulled ahead to 3-2.

Junior Shannon Reid swims after a WHS player for the ball. Although the Matadors played hard, WHS placed higher pressure on MVHS’ defense and was able to quickly transition from defense to offense. Photo by Stephanie Lam.

In the last 30 seconds of the quarter, Ravichandran swam towards the goal, but was soon ejected. The whistle from the ref distracted MVHS momentarily, but was enough time for WHS to swim past defense and shoot into the goal.

Only one goal was made during the third quarter by MV, bringing the score to 4:4. The rest of the quarter, the Matadors fought to maintain possession of the ball. They were often able to make it pass WHS defense, but many shots on goal were blocked or deflected off of the goal rim.

“Offensively, we took a lot of shots, [but we] didn’t score a lot of goals,” coach Gigi Swan said. “We had some people that were open and weren’t able to get them the ball because of some bad passes.”

Senior Monica Ravichandran lungs for the ball in order to keep it away from an oncoming WHS player. Ravichandran had many swims towards the goal and was faced with one-on-one defense as she tried to shoot. Photo by Stephanie Lam

The most suspenseful plays happened in the last minutes final quarter, the Matadors and the Chargers were only a point away from each other. WHS had secured two strong goals, and MVHS was relentlessly trying to tie with them. This became possible when Ravichandran scored in the last minutes, bringing the score to 5-6. However, this possibility did not last long once WHS’ goalie held onto the ball during the last few seconds. By the time she threw the ball to a teammate, time had run out.

The Matadors were disappointed in their loss and had a long team meeting after the game. A key component they thought was lacking in their game was communication among players.

“There were a lot of people that were open and able to get the ball, but they weren’t calling for it,” Reid said. “It’s hard to see them when you are halfway underwater.”

Senior Hanna Severietti saves an incoming ball from Wilcox High School. Severietti blocked multiple shots from Wilcox, and during the game, could be heard clear from the deck encouraging and advising her teammates. Photo by Stephanie Lam.

Swan also agreed that the communication was not up to par with what the team normally does.

“When someone is open on offense, if they’re not calling for the ball, a lot of time it’s hard for the person with the ball to know that they’re open.” Swan said, “So the communication comes in to where you’re screaming for the ball and the person with the ball knows that’s where I have to pass to.”

Despite their loss, the team hopes to improve on their mistakes in their next practice and be prepared to beat WHS the next time they play them.

“Today’s game wasn’t the best,” senior Angela Tolino said, “Buts that’s okay, because next time we play them, we’re going to beat them.”

Girls water polo has their next home game on Oct.13th against Fremont HS