Girls Water Polo: Matadors lose tough game against Los Altos

Carefully guarding the ball, senior Niloo Kamkar attempts to block yet another goal by Los Altos in the second period. The Matadors lost the game 0-13. Photo by Christophe Haubursin.

In the Matadors’ struggling performance against Los Altos on Oct. 18, making it out alive seemed to be the first priority. The Lady Mats put forth a strong yet consistently hesitant offense that caused them to fall victim to rapid turnovers, finishing with a loss 0-13.

The first half boiled down to a matter of indecisive offensive shots against Los Altos’ unrelenting defense. Despite strong efforts by seniors Stacey Urauchi and Niloo Kamkar, the girls took too long to score, winding up with last-second throws missed under pressure of the shot clock. Goalie senior Himani Kukreja kept up progressively more effective blocking efforts that slowed Los Altos’ goals, but nonetheless capped off the second period 0-8.

Once the trend was set, however, it stuck.

By the time the Matadors picked it up for the fourth period, they kept by the Los Altos goal only to to poor communication and 30-second shot clock violations that allowed Los Altos to break through an unorganized defense to finish 0-13 at the end of the fourth period.

“We’re struggling on offense,” head coach Ben Vierra said. “It’s been a tough road this season, but the girls’ spirits are up now. Nonetheless, if you can’t pass, you can’t score. We’ve been working on that all year.”

For the girls, the loss was not without due effort.

“I think we could’ve fixed some aspects,” said goalie senior Shravya Guda. “But we defninitely did come down hard on defense.”

The Matadors’ next home game will be against Homestead on Oct. 25.