Boys’ Water Polo Dominates Double-Header

Exeter’s boy’s varsity water polo team started off its season with two wins in a double-header against the Suffield Academy and Hotchkiss. The team played both games on Saturday, and triumphed over Hotchkiss with nineteen goals to the other team’s nine, and prevailed against the Suffield School with a score of fifteen to two.

Prep Adam Tuchler said that Saturday’s wins demonstrated how hard the team is working to improve. He said about the games, “They reflected the effort that we have put into our practices in this previous week.”

The team credited their captains, seniors Taylor Walshe, Jamie Cassidy and Jackson Parell, with helping them to improve by being skillful players and instilling determination in team members. Upper Troy Marrero said, “All three of our captains bring energy to every game and always play very well.”

In particular, upper James Wang said Walshe showed strong effort by winning every sprint to the ball. Senior Avery Giles also praised Walshe’s work in the game. Giles said that Walshe won a swim off and brought the ball down the pool’s length to his opponent’s side.

The team also highlighted prep Osiris Russell’s play, in particular his goal in the game against Suffield Academy. According to prep Adam Tuchler, Russell received a pass to score with only sixteen seconds remaining in the game.

Another play that stood out to team members was James Wang’s penalty shots in the game against the Hotchkiss. Tuchler said that Wang was awarded three 5-meter shots, one of which was taken by prep Aidan O’Brien and two of which Wang scored.

Although the team played well and was able to win its games, players were challenged by their opponents. Wang said that the matches highlighted areas the team can improve upon. He said, “Because one of our team’s biggest strengths is our defense, we were somewhat disappointed that they were able to find holes in our defense and score some goals.” However, he added that this was an important lesson, and the team plans to patch up any holes in their defense in their upcoming practices.

In addition to learning how to enhance its defense, the team improved on playing as a cohesive unit. According to Giles, the team may have the strongest starting line-up ever.

However, the starters only played a quarter of the game against Hotchkiss, and the second-string played for the remainder of the game. Giles said that this was a positive for the team. “We grew as a team, and it was good to develop trust with our second-string as we know they can hold the game for us,” he said. The second-string players put on quite the performance and even maintained Exeter’s throughout the final three quarters.

Wang added that the team also improved their dynamic in its two games. He said, “The team is as close as ever, and I believe we can go even further than we did last year.” Giles seconded this and said, “We would like to beat Brunswick this time in the finals.”

In the coming week, Big Red will take on Andover with a home game on Wednesday. The team hopes to both continue their winning streak and improve upon their level of play in their match against Exeter’s rival school to prepare for the inevitable Brunswick rematch in November.