Water polo ends season with a bang

At+the+game+against+Pattonville+on+April+27%2C+junior+Julia+Distler+throws+the+ball+past+defenders.

Mary Corkery

At the game against Pattonville on April 27, junior Julia Distler throws the ball past defenders.

Mary Corkery, News Editor

The water polo team beat Eureka 13-1 in their last in season game on April 29.

The Falcons got off to a strong start, leading 5-0 by the end of the first quarter and 11-1 by the end of the first half. Freshman Audrey Compton said that more players got scoring opportunities because the team was ahead.

“Going into it, I think we were pretty confident just because we beat them 11-1 [on April 19],” Compton said. “We did end up winning, which was pretty great, but we really took advantage of the lead we already had and we started putting new players in a lot so that they can make shots because this was the last game of the season.”

The team scored another two points in the fourth quarter, sealing their seventh victory of the season. Junior Julia Distler said that the game was a great time for players to show off the skills that they have been learning throughout the season.

“I was very proud of everyone during that game and thought that it was a great opportunity for the new players to gain some experience and practice what we’ve been learning in practice as it wasn’t a super challenging game,” Distler said.

Earlier that week, the Falcons fell to Pattonville with a score of 13-20 on April 27, despite beating them on April 23. The game was much more challenging, as Pattonville had gained players, and the Falcons were down 8-3 at halftime. They managed to turn things around during the third quarter, junior Blake Stewart said.

“They had a lot more players to sub out, and I think we beat them last time because a lot of their starting players were out,” Stewart said. “The third quarter is when things started turning around. We went up five points within a quarter.”

Despite losing, Distler said that the Pattonville game was a better performance than the game against Eureka due to the team’s courage and determination.

“Although we lost to Pattonville 13-10 I still whole-heartedly believe that that game was far better than our Eureka game. It was such a great game because I’ve personally never seen our team push themselves so hard,” Distler said. “Because the game was so close and we had previously won against Pattonville, I think my team had a real desire to win. We worked together very well during that game and I saw everyone step up and put themselves out there to benefit the whole.”