Girls' Waterpolo Continues Their Undefeated Streak this Season

This past Saturday, Big Red girls’ water polo faced off against the Loomis Chaffee squad, and they came out of the pool with yet another win chalked up on their record. This great performance from the girls marks just another fantastic game for them, improving on their impressive undefeated record.The girls have had an extraordinary season thus far. With a new batch of preps and some strong talent from the returning players, the girls are on track to complete an undefeated season. “The team cohesion is very impressive, and the girls have great chemistry, both in and out of the pool,” manager and lower Quinn Hickey said of the girls’ team. “It’s honestly been a really great experience being able to see the girls change and grow closer as a team as the season progresses. I’m excited to see them continue on that path.” Hickey and his fellow managers, who are all boys’ water polo players, have been extremely impressed with the girls’ performance in the pool.The girls’ most recent game against Loomis was no exception to the girls’ incredible streak. Although the girls started out a little slow, the girls finished out the game with a final score of 10-5. Most of the goals were scored in the third and fourth quarters. “We started off a little slow, keeping the score tied at 1-1 for the first half, finally getting up to 2-1 in the second half,” upper Michelle Ysrael said. “Then in the third

quarter, we really stepped it up with 7 goals in 7 minutes and scoring one more in the last quarter for a 10-5 win.”While all of the girls played exceptionally, a few girls had stellar performances. In particular, Madison Hillyard had a great game in goal, in addition to Natalie Wyatt, who also played keeper for part of the game. “Our goalies Madison Hillyard and Natalie Wyatt had lots of good saves,” Ysrael said. Janet Chen also had an impressive goal, which contributed to the strong lead that the girls established later in the game.Because of the girls’ fantastic performance, they took a commanding lead towards the end of the match, which afforded them the opportunity to give playing time to some of the more inexperienced players. “After we pulled ahead, we were able to give some of the new girls playing time also, which was good,” upper Dana Yu said of the game’s events.The girls’ undefeated 9-0 record has presented many great opportunities for the newcomers to have valuable play time. This added experience will hopefully contribute to the team’s success in future years, since the preps will have had more playing time than in previous years.The girls have had a great season so far, and if all goes well, will end up with a fully undefeated season, and will play strongly at the upcoming E/A games in a few weeks.