Boys’ Water Polo: Falcons topple first-place team and rival

The boys’ water polo team managed to topple then undefeated and top-seeded Lynbrook 16-13 on Oct. 20 as well as longtime rival Wilcox 8-6 on Oct. 18, producing a glimmering hope to snatch the CCS spot.

“If we lost [the game against Lynbrook], [Lynbrook] would have essentially clinched the CCS spot unless something went fatally wrong,” junior driver Parth Shah said. “We stopped them from doing that and kept our hopes alive [to claim the CCS spot].”

After this upset, the team feels confident that they have a good chance at making CCS this year.
“I feel that we are the team to beat now and that it’s going to be tough for Wilcox or Lynbrook to top us,” Shah said.

However, the team must now beat both Wilcox and Lynbrook again at the league tournament on Nov. 5-6 for a chance to land a spot in CCS.

“We are really going to have to play our best at the league tournament because [Wilcox and Lynbrook] are going to be fired up to beat us,” junior driver Jimmy Speedy said.

Lynbrook played a tough game with a strong start, but the Falcons managed to pull away in the second half with junior hole set Neal Siganporia leading the charge with three goals in the first four minutes of the second half.

Senior driver Eric Wang, sophomore hole set Stephen Cho and senior driver Tyler Borch all scored three, while junior utility Tyler Tanaka scored two. Senior two-meter defense Nicolas Doyen scored one.

“It was easily the best game of the year,” Speedy said.

The first victory in two years against Wilcox raised the team’s spirits, which helped in their game against Lynbrook, Shah said.

“[The game against Wilcox] was pivotal to get our momentum rolling [for the game against Lynbrook],” he said.

Speedy said it was exciting to see the team play at its full potential on both days.

As for CCS, both Shah and Speedy agreed that the team has to really step up their game if they do make it.

“If we get into CCS, we will really have to play our best water polo to compete against other elite teams,” Shah said.

The team scored another victory 13-5 against Cupertino on Oct. 25, and a 13-8 victory against Harker on Oct. 27 bringing the team to second place with an 9-2 El Camino League record.