In mid September, the boys’ water polo team fell short against the El Camino League’s two strongest teams — Santa Clara and Milpitas.
The Falcons played those matches shorthanded with multiple players sick and injured. The losses also dropped the Falcons to sixth place in the league. Last Thursday, however, they fought back with a 13-9 road victory against the Wilcox Chargers.
With senior flat Kunal Bhatnagar out due to a concussion, head coach Michael Allegretti started sophomore flat Samir Sharma instead, strongly urging players to not let the matches start off sluggishly — which was the main tactical downfall that led to their loss against Milpitas.
Though the Falcons lost the initial sprint for the ball, they were quick to push back, shutting down the Chargers’ offense. Junior Brian Le controlled the offensive position, and after a quick pump fake, he set the tempo early with a powerful shot into the net.
In the first quarter, adaptive communication between players on both teams stopped most attempts to score. But after a poor pass by the Chargers, Le seized an opportunity to steal the ball. Afterward, he passed it to senior Stanley Liu, who sprinted down the pool and scored, putting the Falcons ahead 2-0.
Quick reactions to passes into center also allowed the team to make even more steals. Sharma and senior whole-set Chester Bunker each logged one steal early on, giving the Falcons extra chances to attack. Sharma’s steal and pass down the pool once again gave Le the opportunity to turn his defender.
Setting up a 6-on-5 formation, Le noticed an opening in the middle, giving senior center Nirvan Shah — who was posted up right in front of the goal — a quick pass and redirect into the goal.
After low time on the shot clock allowed the Falcons to get back on offense, a new issue persisted that hindered their play.
“Usually when I get a pass into center, I can either draw a foul or an ejection — which gives us a player up in offense,” Shah said. “The referees at this game barely called any ejections.”
At the same time, the Chargers were able to get an ejection against senior point Ishaan Rao; by the end of the first quarter, the Falcons were up 4-3.
The Falcons’ momentum slowed down in the second quarter, with the score being even at 4 for the first three minutes.
With a quick change of pace, a sudden ejection against Rao left the Falcons down a player in the defense. They were left with no choice but to foul the center. Otherwise a quick shot from the poorly guarded whole-set would undoubtedly have resulted in a goal.
The Chargers were therefore granted a 5-meter penalty shot; senior goalie Samvrith Bandi pounced, managing to save the shot and deflect it far away.
Not long after, a long range pass from Sharma to Bunker across the pool, who was driving on offense, created yet another offensive scoring chance. Bunker maneuvered the opposite way from the defender, who was still chasing, giving him a path in front of the cage with no defense ahead. In an instant, the score turned to 6-4.
For the rest of the quarter, Bandi held the Chargers to just one goal, giving the Falcons a three-goal lead at 7-4 into halftime.
Drives and counters fueled even more goals in the third quarter. Le scored a goal after Bunker forced a foul and gave the Falcons a 5-meter penalty that Le scored.
For the rest of the match, the Falcons maintained their control. Bandi’s blocks, defensive support in center and offensive coordination consolidated their lead, leading to the 13-9 final result.
Even with their triumphant performance, Liu hopes to continue pushing for more improvement across the team.
“Wilcox has a small pool. Because of this, our offense for this game needed better spacing out,” Liu said. “Working on setting up will help us compete against teams at higher levels.”
With this win, the Falcons bounce back with a 3-3 record in league; they are looking forward to their next home match against Lynbrook on Tuesday.
