Varsity girls water polo team falls just short to Castilleja in 13-14 loss

Pressured+by+a+Castilleja+gator%2C+senior+Kyra+Hawk+passes+the+ball+to+a+fellow+teammate+to+allow+Harker+to+be+in+a+scoring+position.+The+varsity+girls+water+polo+team+fell+to+Castilleja+in+a+close+match+on+Tuesday.

Brandon Zau

Pressured by a Castilleja gator, senior Kyra Hawk passes the ball to a fellow teammate to allow Harker to be in a scoring position. The varsity girls water polo team fell to Castilleja in a close match on Tuesday.

by Brandon Zau and Kevin Zhang

The varsity girls water polo team lost a close match to Castilleja 13-14 in a fourth quarter thriller at home on Tuesday.

Harker trailed by two points at the end of the first quarter, but the girls’ defense improved as they restrained Castilleja to scoring just one goal in the second quarter. Meanwhile, Harker scored three goals, tying up the game 6-6 at halftime. However, the Eagles’ scoring lessened afterward, and Castilleja took advantage of the slowdown to restore a 10-7 lead. 

In the fourth quarter, Harker responded by scoring six goals, with Keren Eisenberg (10) scoring her fourth goal of the quarter to bring the game within one point in the final minutes of the game. Harker fell just short to Castilleja and the game ended with the top shooters being Keren and a Castilleja player, who scored six goals each.

Despite the loss, head varsity water polo coach Cristian Tanase approved of what he saw from the team, commenting on the team’s effective transition plays. 

“I think we were physically prepared,” Coach Cristian said. “We had a couple good counter attack situations, and I’m very happy with the team performance overall.”

Sophomore team member Angelina Burrows also acknowledges that the girls executed well on counters and further compliments their defense, especially the Eagles’ goalies. 

“Our goalies were amazing because they did a really good job on the one on nobodies [with no defenders],” Angelina said.

After losing to Castilleja last year as well, team captain Sydney Adler (12) reflects on what the girls could have further improved on, but she is still proud of the girls’ performance and growth from last year too.

“It would have been helpful to give a little bit more direction sometimes, or make sure that everyone knew what we were doing on the same page,” Sydney said. “[Still], I thought that was probably the best we’ve ever played. We scared [Castilleja] a bit, because they came in expecting to beat us [immediately].”