Bear Polo Loses 16-6 to All Adult Boston Metro Squad

EXETER - In their last match before Interschols, Exeter’s boys’ varsity water polo team faced off against Boston Metro, a year-round club team from Boston, MA. The team is composed fully of adults who possess a life-long love for water polo from their collegiate days, and proved to be a tough opponent with a plethora of experiences to draw from. They defeating Exeter in a one-sided victory, 16-6.Senior co-captain Nick du Pont believed that the outcome of the official game could have been different if Exeter analyzed and adapted to the situation in the pool quicker. “They’re all very skilled, but just a little bit out of shape. We didn’t actually take advantage of that,” du Pont said. “Instead, they dominated us through their physicality. They really took advantage of the fact they were stronger, more skilled players, and we let them do that.”Senior Quinn Larkin believed that although the loss was disappointing, playing against Boston Metro gives the team many valuable assets to carry into Interschols and repeat last year’s success in claiming the NEPSAC league champion status. “It was a good learning experience because they were very strong and very skilled, so we were able to learn a lot of things about water polo and moves that we could use. We also learned more about what our weaknesses are,” Larkin said.“It showed us that we have a lot to work on. We also got to spend some time playing with the referee that is going to be officiating the Championships, so we got a chance to understand what his tendencies were, which is going to help us,” du Pont added.After the official game, the two teams mutually agreed to play another two-half game, instead of the traditional four-quarter format. Exeter was able to create more opportunities for themselves through improved offense and defense, and the game ended in a much tighter 6-5 win by Boston Metro. “Although we lost by a lot in the first game, we adjusted to their style of play and made it closer in the second game,” Larkin said.With an 11-5 season record, Big Red will be seeded third going into Interschols, which will be conveniently hosted on November 9th, the day of the Exeter/Andover games, at Exeter’s Roger Nekton Championship Pool. For their first round, Exeter will face second seed Deerfield Academy.Although Exeter lost closely, 9-8 in overtime, against Deerfield back in mid-October, Bear Polo athletes stayed confident in their abilities to take the win this time with focused practices and work for the remainder of the season.“We’ve been working on our counterattack a lot this past week, so we’ll hopefully be prepared for that, but we also need to work on offense against a hard defense, so I’m sure we’ll be working on that going towards Interschols,” Larkin said. “Overall, we’re confident about Deerfield.”Du Pont agreed, stressing the importance of senior co-captain JB Baker’s role as the veteran two-meter player to go up against Deerfield’s strong defensive set. “They do a very hard press defense, and their defensive set fronts our offensive set, so we’ll be working with JB and our offensive players to get the ball to JB even though he’s being fronted, so he can work his magic and get us some goals and ejections."