The team reflects upon their successful season which ended Nov. 8.
Having played their last game on Nov. 8, the varsity girls water polo team is proud of another successful season. With losses to only two schools throughout their season—twice against Wilcox High School and twice against Lynbrook High School—the Lady Mats tied their 2007 position by taking third place in the league championships. During the championships, the team defeated Harker 5-0 and lost to Lynbrook 3-4 and Wilcox 5-7.
“We’re a really close team,” freshman Stacey Urachi said. “We played very well together.”
Throughout their season, the girls water polo team has been up against tough competition and has experienced trying hardships. The Lady Mats faced many opposing teams with a greater number of experienced players than their own. Wilcox High School, a team that the Matadors lost twice to this season, has not graduated any seniors since their 2007 season.
Other challenges involved the relatively few number of players on the team. During a game, seven players from each team are in the water at a time. Having a team of only 10 quickly leads to exhaustion for each player.
“It was really hard having a small team,” sophomore Sonika Singh said. “You basically had to play for the whole game.”
Despite all the pressure the girls were up against, they have earned their fair share of achievements this season, which according to Singh, included defeating a number of schools with elite teams, including Lincoln High School, Santa Teresa High School, and Mountain View High School during the previous season. And according to Karleskind, the girls learned to work together and compete as a fully functional team, a benefit enhanced by the team’s fairly small size.
“It made team bonding a lot easier,” team co-captain senior Molly Karleskind said. “It was much easier to organize the team and keep track of people.”
