The girls’ varsity water polo team narrowly lost to Tamalpais (Tam) six to eight in a battle on Sep. 16. After ending the first quarter down by three, the team struggled to make a comeback despite their best efforts.
Tam came out strong, scoring three quick goals during the first quarter and setting the mood for the rest of the match.
Boosting motivation after the rough start, sophomore Sam Riley, the top scorer for the Giants, snuck in one goal from over halfway across the pool with one second left in the second quarter. While many opposing members argued it was after the buzzer, the referee sided with Riley.
“Some things we could work on are our passing, recognizing when to take the open water and really just putting our chin down and shooting,” Riley said.
Head coach Brian Monty is determined to have a winning season, agreeing that the team’s passing could be improved.
“We just couldn’t execute a lot of passes, and we also made some of the wrong reads. We passed to the [easy option] instead of throwing the cross pass across the pool,” Monty said.
While the game ended in a devastating loss, the team was able to come back slightly after a rocky start that ultimately proved fatal to the final score.
“The girls never gave up, and they put in a really good effort. It just didn’t go our way in the first quarter, and that ended up being our downfall,” Monty said.
Another major setback was the struggle to land shots in the net.
“We kept shooting wide or shooting over the cage. If we just didn’t overthink it as much and put the ball between the posts, the score would have gone up,” Monty said.
Even Riley, ending the 2024 season with a 94.9 shot percentage, felt this to be true.
“I did a good job on defense. That’s always been my strong suit. But there were a couple of shots that just didn’t really fall for me,” Riley said.
Freshman Scarlett Lippiatt credits the score to equal skill levels between the teams.
“[Tam has] a lot of good players; this game easily could have gone either way,” Lippiatt said.
Despite being early in the season, she has high hopes for the future.
“Our team has improved since the beginning of the season, and I’m excited to see where this takes us,” Lippiat said.
