Girls varsity waterpolo loses to West Covina in a close game
January 10, 2023
Varsity girls water polo lost to West Covina High School 9-12 at their sixth preseason game Thursday, Dec. 8 making this their second loss after four wins this season.
The first quarter started with West Covina getting awarded a penalty, which they converted to score the first point of the game. Both teams reset but the Mustangs lost possession of the ball in front of the goal, which West Covina took advantage of to extend their lead. More shots and points would be missed by both teams, ending the first quarter with a score of 1 – 4.
“We went in thinking that it was going to be a tough game and we weren’t wrong,” set guard senior Hannah Wu said. “The outcome was not something we were expecting but this game just gives us a chance to improve on minor details, like the technical.”
The second quarter started with Walnut players repeatedly shooting the ball. With both teams trying to switch it up by subbing in new players, Walnut managed to break the trend. Walnut eventually had another chance to score with a penalty which they converted. West Covina scored two more points to end the second quarter 3-7.
“After the first half we knew we had to switch it up because the gap was only widening between us and West Covina,” Wu said. “The strategies that we worked on in practice weren’t well executed in the first half so we knew that we needed to step it up in the second.”
Walnut started the second half hot, scoring two goals right off the bat making the score 5-7. West Covina retaliated by scoring two goals of their own too. The quarter ended 7-10 with Walnut scoring two more goals and West Covina scoring one more. Walnut scored the first goal of the final quarter along with scoring another towards the end of the game. The game ended with a score of 9-12
“I felt like me and the girls played really well today, [but] we had minor mistakes that in hindsight should’ve been better. But in the end what’s done is done and I’m really proud of the team for trying our best out there even though we didn’t bring it home,” wing senior Sarah Takacs said. Ω
![Playing offense | Right wing senior Sharl Gonzalez attempts to pass the ball to his teammate, striker senior Oscar Feria (not pictured). “I trusted [Oscar] enough to pass him the ball, so I felt like if I got him the ball he would have been okay, and it would have helped the team,” Gonzalez said. “I felt disappointed in the result of the game, but I feel like as a team we tried our best.”](https://whshoofprint.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/12/soccer-1200x832.jpeg)
