The boys’ water polo team, led by junior Mason Lee and junior Graham Schmelzer, is still trying to find its strengths. They had a chance to compete against other water polo teams in the area at a tournament in Lynbrook High School on Sept. 5-6 and finished third out of 18 teams.

The action started with a 7-5 win against Sobrato High School, a team the Falcons don’t usually play because the two schools are in different leagues. The Falcons started the game out strong, limiting the Bulldogs to just one goal at halftime. Although the Falcons’ defense slipped a little during the second half, surrendering four more goals, the offense did enough to keep the lead, with Lee and junior hole set Davis Robertson each scoring two goals in the game.

“[Since it was the] first game of the season, I could see a lot of players, including myself, were nervous. For 11 of us, it was our first varsity game,” junior Noah Quanrud said. “That affected our play early on, but we hit our stride and had a nice win.”

Later that day, the Falcons played longtime rival Lynbrook High School, winning 12-6. Lynbrook beat the Falcons in the league championships three years in a row prior to last year, motivating the Falcons to swim harder and play smarter.

Even so, they got off to a slow start, trailing the Vikings 4-3 at halftime. Coach Courtney Crase, seeing that the team was dispirited, gathered them for a motivational talk during halftime. Crase spoke about how even though they weren’t playing their best water polo, they were only down a point, and if they played the way she knew they could, the game would be theirs. Senior Brian Lew then led a break, with the teaming proudly yelling “TOGA!”

The team started the third quarter strong, quickly tying the game and taking a two-goal lead by the end of the quarter. After multiple goals in the fourth quarter by Lee, the Vikings had no chance of coming back. Lee and Davis each scored three goals in the Falcons’ inspiring win.

“This victory really showed our ability to get serious and play good water polo,” Lew said. “We started out poorly, but were able to correct a good portion of our mistakes after halftime and build from there.”

The next morning, the Falcons played Half-Moon Bay High School, another team they don’t usually play. The Cougars proved to be a difficult matchup because of their size and strength. Despite this disadvantage, the two schools were tied 2-2 at halftime.

Things turned for the worse after halftime, with the Falcons surrendering two goals in the third quarter. The Cougars’ lead proved too big to overcome, with the Falcons losing 6-5. Robertson led the team with two goals.

“Although we lost, we shouldn’t get our hopes down because that was only our third game playing together,” sophomore William Lew said. “We obviously still have a lot of things to improve on, but we showed our potential as a team.”

Disappointed by the loss against the Cougars, the Falcons returned later that day seeking to win the match for third place against Archbishop Mitty High School.

The team played strong defense and took advantage of turnovers for most of the game, leading Mitty 7-4 at the end of the third quarter. Comfortable with their lead, the Falcons relented their tough defense in the fourth quarter, giving up three goals and their lead.

The quarter ended with the two teams tied 7-7, and the game went to sudden death, where the first goal scored wins. After three minutes of back-and-forth play, Mitty missed a shot, and senior goalie Connor Peebles made a quick outlet pass to the right wing to Schmelzer while junior Andrew Jiang sprinted down the middle of the pool to six meters.  

Jiang, seeing that there were no defenders near him, yelled for the ball, and scored a goal low left, giving the Falcons the win and third place. Jiang led the team with three goals.

“After coming from a loss to Half-Moon Bay, we all wanted to prove to each other that we were a better team and came out stronger for this game,” Brian said. “Although we kind of slipped in the fourth quarter, [Jiang] bailed us out with a goal in overtime.”

The Falcons are preparing for their first league game against Mountain View on Sept. 18.