Boys’ water polo players woke up at 7 a.m. on Sept. 6 to compete in an all-day four-game tournament hosted at Independence High. In the end, the Falcons came home with a second-place finish.
The other schools that participated in the tournament were Evergreen Valley, Prospect and Independence. This is the first ever tournament where the team played several games in one day.
With matches against each of the other teams and a final game to determine rankings, the Falcons competed throughout the day, arriving at the pool at 8 a.m. and leaving around 7 p.m.
The team’s first match was against Prospect, the highest-ranked team. To start off the match, the team solidified a 3-0 lead for the majority of the first quarter, with two goals by senior center Nirvan Shah and one from senior flat Kunal Bhatnagar. Eventually, they were caught off guard by flat Jacob Bae, one of Prospect’s strong players, lobbing the ball into the cage several successive times. Up until halftime, the score went back and forth, rounding out at 4-4.
However, soon after, a weak third quarter left the Falcons suddenly down by six goals. The match spiraled out of the team’s control and ended as a 14-4 loss to the strongest team in the tournament. Shah attributed the loss to one major flaw: poor defense.
“Letting drivers get the ball without extra help from surrounding defenders allows us to get easily scored on,” he said.
Still, staying even against a high level team with several year-round club players for a significant portion of the game was an encouraging result.
The team’s second match against Evergreen Valley started off at a slow pace, with the scores being close around 3-3 in the start. Still, the Falcons maintained control throughout the entire match, never letting Evergreen Valley take the lead.
After the start of the third quarter, the team pulled off fast counters, rapidly scoring goals and hastening the pace of the game. Junior flat Brian Le scored three goals during this period and substitute players were sent into the pool to gain experience; the match ended in a 10-4 victory for the Falcons.
The third game was a similar story. Playing against Independence, the underdog team, the Falcons pulled away a quick 4-0 lead. By the second quarter, they had switched priorities to practice setting up offensive formations and making smart passes into center.
Sophomore wing Samir Sharma switched into center while all substitutes were allowed an opportunity to play. By the end, the Falcons swiftly advanced with a 10-2 victory over Independence.
“Our second and third games were a good learning opportunity and helped us get accustomed to setting up our offense neatly,” Sharma said. “A lot of players including me were able to play in different positions and gain awareness of the game.”
With a 2-1 record, the Falcons had one game left; their rematch against Prospect. Though the Falcons fought admirably, by halftime, Prospect had a slim 7-6 lead over the Falcons, with each team fiercely contesting for the upper hand.
A sudden turnaround happened in the third quarter as senior hole-set defense Ishaan Rao was ejected for the third time in the tournament and rolled, which prevented him from reentering the pool for the rest of the game.
As the center defense, raising his hands just one second late when his offensive player had the ball would get Rao ejected for 20 seconds, making his position the easiest to get ejected from. Rao’s third ejection left an empty spot in the team to be filled by substitute players.
At the same time, Prospect widened their lead through several 5-meter penalty shots earned from powerful drives, an attack which the Falcons lacked a coordinated defense against.
Relying on less experienced players to keep up with the game, the Falcons kept pushing and managed to score some goals in the second half of the match. After a long range high-corner goal by Le, the score settled as a 20-8 loss against Prospect, earning the Falcons second place in the tournament.
The two losses spoke volumes about the team’s capabilities and efforts. With full-game footage of all four matches, the team’s head coach Michael Allegretti plans to analyze the mistakes made, and the possible opportunities to learn offensive tactics to utilize.
The performance at this past weekend’s tournament sets the team up for the approaching league season. While the team suffered losses, each game revealed strengths and a direct way to improve. Placing second also gives the boys a strong morale boost, knowing that they can face any team in their league with a confident winning mentality.
“Performing this well this early in the season is a large step up from last year,” Bhatnagar said. “As long as we keep up the intensity and mentality at our daily practices, we are definitely placing high in our league.”
The team will face strong league opponents Milpitas and Santa Clara in the upcoming week, ready to compete with newfound confidence.
