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Water Polo
Dominating in League
by Spencer Green
These past few weeks have been extremely hectic for the boys' water
polo team as the Varsity squad competed in eleven games in two
weeks, including four league games. Starting off with an away game
against Culver City, the Eagles began what would be an exciting two
weeks. The Culver City game took place on Wednesday, October 11, and
the Eagles crushed the opposing Culver team with a 21-6 victory.
The weekend after the Culver City game, the Varsity
Eagles traveled to the North Orange County Tournament. This large
event involved 40 different teams competing for several days. El
Segundo's first game of the tournament was Thursday, October 12, and
their last was Saturday, October 14. After three days and five
games, the Eagles had won one game and lost four.
The Eagles lost to Bonita Vista and Santana 4-7,
Valhalla 5-7, and Temple City 11-13. However they did beat Garden
Grove 15-4, making their single win of the tournament a big one. The
exhausting weekend left the Eagles with wounded pride and a need to
strategize.
It appears that there is no rest for the weary, because
only two days after the tournament the Eagles were back in action,
trekking to Santa Monica High School. The SaMo game was on Monday,
October 16, and was an important match for the Eagles. At the end of
the fourth quarter, the game was tied, 9-9. The sudden death period
that followed ended when the Eagles pounded in the final goal of the
game; winning 10-9.
This victory pumped up the water polo team as they
prepared to face another rival, the Beverly Hills High School water
polo team. The Beverly game took place Wednesday, October 18, giving
the Eagles a chance to play at home after a string of away games.
Anticipation filled the Plunge as the Beverly Hill Normans began the
game with an early lead. By half, the Eagles had taken the lead with
three goals compared to the Normans two. In the third quarter the
Eagles came back in the game with four goals to match one for
Beverly Hills. The Eagles kept it up in the fourth period as well,
nailing home two more goals while only letting Beverly get one. The
game ended 9-4, giving the Eagles a reason to celebrate. Scoring was
done by juniors Jake Mark and Woody Lindsey with one each, juniors
Danny Rajaniemi and Matt Pittluck with two each, and senior Jeff
Volosin with three to his credit.
The day after this important victory, Thursday, October
19, the Eagles returned to the Plunge to battle the Chadwick polo
team. As if repeating history, the Eagles once again won, 9-4. This
was made possible by players senior Tyler Contarsy, Rajaniemi,
Lindsey, and junior goalie Matt Kubeck, each with a goal to their
names. Senior Alex Heck slammed two goals home and Volosin pounded
in three more.
After a weekend of rest, the Eagles traveled to Milken
High School on Monday, October 23. The Eagles defeated their
opponents, 14-12.
George Harris, head coach of the water polo team, had
this to say of his players: "The team is overachieving considering
the number of players on the varsity squad, and I couldn't be
prouder of them. We have a chance to win league even though at the
North Orange tournament we lost four out of our five games, and we
could have gone into the tank. Everyone was writing us off, but
after the Santa Monica game the guys got their confidence back. I'd
like to give credit to the co-coaches, Riley Brady and Fotis
Davlantis, because they've really done a marvelous job."
So far the water polo team has won 16 games and lost 9,
and their league record is 6-0. At this rate, they look like they
have a great chance in league finals and CIF.
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