Varsity Boys Water Polo lost 11-4 against Homestead High School on Tuesday, Sept. 19. HHS led and ended the first quarter with a score of 3-0. However, in the second quarter, MVHS picked up the momentum, scoring one goal during the second quarter for a score of 5-1 by halftime. MVHS scored three more goals in the third and fourth quarter, but HHS maintained its lead, bringing the final score to 11-4.
Senior and wing Leo Matsumoto attributes the rough start during the first half to struggles adapting with each player’s playstyle.
“We’re still struggling to get to know how each person plays,” Matsumoto said. “It’s still early in the season, so we need to get better [at recognizing] how each person plays and play to each other’s strengths.”
Junior and wing Owen Pow notes that the team’s mentality changed after scoring the second goal during the third quarter.
“The second goal changed things because the score was still pretty close,” Pow said. “We realized that there was still a chance, so we picked up a little bit.”
Furthermore, Pow says the team began to understand HHS’s strategy after the first half, allowing MVHS to play accordingly and score more during the second half.
“We started to realize what they were doing every single time,” Pow said. “[During] the first half, they scored a lot more than the second half. We started to realize what they were doing and figured out how to counter them and how to play around them [to] use that as our strength.”
While Matsumoto acknowledges the loss, he still expresses his high hopes for the season.
“Like I said earlier, it’s just a start right now,” Matsumoto said. “And we’re [going to] have some film on these people that we could watch and learn how they play. That’ll definitely help us get better and just recognize how each game plays and then adapt to their strengths.”
