The varsity boys water polo team opened the Ron Freeman Memorial Tournament with a 9-10 loss to Tokay High School on Oct. 28, bringing their record to 4-9. After a closely contested game, Tokay pulled ahead while taking advantage of the Matadors’ frequent lapses in communication.

The Matadors were unable to get a lead in the first period, but they stayed close behind to keep the score at 1-2 with the first goal by junior Brendan Duffy. With stellar defense by both teams, neither team was able to score very often. Entering the second period, THS managed to pull ahead with a goal to make the score 1-3, Matadors down. The Matadors began to sense a lack of communication at this point, as several poor passes forced a turnover. Goalie junior Owen Hardee, however, chest-blocked a shot by Tokay to prevent them from scoring.

With 2:39 left in the period, senior Cameron Yates made a smart play, luring the THS goalie out and tossing the ball into the unguarded cage for a goal and kept the Matadors in the game with the score 2-3. The Matadors briefly tied the score with another goal exactly one minute after Yates’ as Duffy managed to score after receiving a pass from senior Peter Wells. But eleven seconds later, with 1:28 on the clock, Tokay managed to work a goal in with a shot to the lower left corner of the cage, just out of Hardee’s reach, to keep the Matadors at bay, 3-4.

With the score so close, both teams then began to break down. Rushed passes and other errors happened often, as each team knew that the other could catch up quickly. Most shots up to this point were directly blocked by the goalie, but Tokay began to miss wide and the Matadors’ shots were often too high. Tokay was able to regroup, however, with a backhand shot — while the Matadors were unprepared — to extend their lead to two goals with the score at 3-5 at the end of the second period.

As the third period began, the Matadors seemed to be able to score several times, but attempts by Duffy and sophomore Colin Hong were quickly blocked by the THS goalie. With 4:10 left in the period, a THS player faked a shot to the right, effectively distracting Hardee, then tossed the ball in to the left side of the cage to make the score 3-6 with the Matadors still down. But one minute later, a passing sequence by Yates and junior Dmitriy Evert allowed them to find a hole in the Tokay defense, giving Yates the opportunity to put the Matadors only two goals behind.

The Matadors’ communication then began to falter as a Tokay scored a goal, even with three MVHS players guarding the single Tokay player with the ball. MVHS players struggled to stay on the same page as each other as they positioned themselves in places that cut them off from their teammates.

“Our team chemistry was off,” Hardee said. “Our communication was terrible.”

In an attempt to redirect his frustration towards scoring, Duffy managed to work in two goals, one after a pass from Wells and the other from the ten-meter line with one minute left in the period. The Matadors pulled within two goals o THS, and the intensity increased as fans and players alike saw a chance for the Matadors to win.

With a seven-minute period left in the game, the Matadors rallied to tie the score. Twenty-eight seconds into the fourth period, Yates scored his third goal, a key play that ignited the Matador offense. Hardee continued to block shots by THS, allowing the Matadors to tie the game as Yates, assisted by Duffy, managed to net yet another goal, even with three THS players guarding him. But the Matadors’ success was short-lived as THS regained the lead with 3:19 left in the game.

Frustrated, the Matadors began to make poor passes, largely eliminating any chance to score. Yates, unnerved by the pressure, helped the Matadors get back up on their feet with his fifth goal after a half-circle passing sequence by MVHS. But Tokay managed to retaliate with a goal into the open left side of the Matador defense, and a final effort from Duffy was blocked by the Tokay goalie, ending the game at a score 9-10.

With the majority of their losses decided by only a few goals, taking the loss proved to be difficult for the Matadors.

Senior Peter Wells expressed disappointment in the loss but added that if anything good came of out the loss, it was that it prepared them for the upcoming match against Gunn High School.

“[Tokay was] pretty close to Gunn’s skills, so [the game] was a good indicator for what we need to change,” Wells said.

The team’s last chance to qualify for CCS will be to win against Gunn High School in the league final game on Thursday, Nov. 3.