Girls' Water Polo Comes Up Short in Triple OT Thriller

Girls’ water polo lost 6-5 in triple overtime against Phillips Academy Andover on Wednesday. It was a tense, close game, and Andover won with a lucky shot. If the girls had won this game, Big Red would have been locked in for the playoffs.At the end of the second half, Exeter and Andover were tied 5-5, and overtime brought no change. They went into sudden death, which is where Andover made a “lucky” shot.“It wasn't an intentional shot,” prep Caroline del Real said. “They shot, it rebounded, and no one was there to get it.
 Mariah, our goalie, had the ball, and they pushed her into the net.
”Regardless of the loss, the girls had a fantastic game, starting out strong. “We were up by two in the first half,” del Real said. “It was great, because last time we lost to Andover, 7-15.”Senior Kelly Wolff agreed with del Real that this game was a significant improvement for the squad. “I definitely see a big difference from the last time we played Andover,” she said. “Last time we played them, two of our starters were injured. We were also playing in a six lane pool, which is a lot smaller than we're used to, so playing in our home pool was definitely an advantage.”Wolff commented on the team’s solid defensive performance. “We played well. Our defense was really incredible,” she said. “It was a bummer that we lost, since we played such good defense.”“Throughout the entire game, we had great defense, and our team has such strong swimmers,” upper Hope Logan added.“Our greatest problem is passing and offense. We have a young team, so we tend to get a little flustered sometimes. I think that's our biggest challenge as a team. We fought hard, and honestly it was a really tough loss for us.”Senior co-captain Catharine Shipps passed on praise from the coaches, Andrew McTammany and Melissa Pacific. “Our coach told us at the end of the game that he had never seen a group of people put so much heart into something,” she said. “It was upsetting to put up such a fight and not win, but we look forward to having the same intensity in our games this weekend.”The girls will play Choate Rosemary Hall and Suffield Academy on Saturday, searching for a spot in the playoffs.