Varsity boys water polo won their first official league game 17-11 at home against Claremont Thursday, Sept. 26.
The game started off with shooter junior Braden Cobb scoring one and a half minute into the quarter, which was quickly followed by a shot made by the Wolves. The Mustangs took back the momentum with juniors Nathan Wang and Anthony Santos scoring the next goals. The first quarter closed off strong, with Walnut leading 7-4.
“Our teamwork was really strong today. I felt like I had to do my best because there were a lot of stakes riding on this game,” Cobb said. “If we lose, [we] get put into a lower bracket so it really matters whether we win or lose. I’m pretty sure everybody on the team knows that because we were really stressed before the game. If we didn’t win, I’d feel we weren’t doing our best and slacking off.”
The second quarter started rocky for the Mustangs. The opponent brought stronger defensive plays and scored the first goal of the quarter. The Mustangs were able to steal back the ball and defend their goal, ending the second quarter with a score of 9-7.
“In the first half of the game, we were feeling them out—seeing what we have, what we can work with—knowing that we have way more depth than them,” captain senior Jakob Villasenor said. “We have way more stuff going for our team. We have way more opportunities than them so we were just finding what exactly we need to do to push it. We wanted to know exactly what they had before we showed all of our weapons.”
The Mustangs extended their lead in the second half of the game. The third quarter saw many successful trick shots made by players, ending with a score of 15-8. In the final quarter, they focused on defensive play, stealing the ball back when they lost possession and blocking attempts at the goal.
“For this game, I think we [were] really focused coming out. I would tell them to try and have more fun. It’s good to be focused and 100% but the reason they play the sport and love the sport is because it should be fun,” head coach Bryan Canchola said.
According to Canchola, the team’s defensive strategy in maintaining consistent, adaptable plays have been effectively shown throughout the game. They were able to find and exploit their opponent’s weaknesses, counter and shoot accordingly. Something they would like to work on more is passing more consistently above water.
“I think the team did great for our first league game. We definitely put them away more than we had to, enough to show all the other teams that we are not a joke and coming into this new league, this is just what we are,” Villasenor said. “I had faith in the team [from] the start and we definitely pulled it off.” Ω
