Water Polo Dominates Deerfield
This past weekend, the girls’ varsity water polo team opened its season with a win at home against Deerfield Academy. The final score of the game was 18-7. Big Red’s season is off to an amazing start, and the team is excited for what is to come in the next few weeks.
Heading into the game, the girls had been training hard in and out of the pool for the past two weeks. “Our [head] coach, [Andrew] McT[ammany], has been working us extremely hard and pushed us with challenging swim sets and leg sets,” senior and co-captain Maddie Shapiro commented.
Upper Gabby Allen agreed with Shapiro’s sentiments. “We’ve been running some drills to work on our technique and skills, and we’ve also been gaining some strength and confidence in the pool, which is important,” Allen added. “I think a lot of us were nervous for this first game, but I think it helped to show us how hard we’ve been working.”
The girls showed excellent teamwork and camaraderie during their face off with Deerfield. “We communicated well in the pool and always encouraged each other,” lower Ramyanee Mukherjee said. Upper Sam Gove also commended the team’s unity, saying, “We flowed and had a lot of chemistry.”
Allen applauded the team for its surprisingly cohesive game strategy, given it was the first game of the season. “We played really well together, which was a little surprising actually cause it was our first game of the season. I was really impressed with everyone who got in the pool on Saturday,” she said.
The game was packed with impressive feats; uppers Gove and Issy Wise worked together to break down Deerfield’s defense. Each of these players scored six goals, making up over half of Big Red’s total score.
Goalie and upper Ela Ferhangil also made significant contributions, blocking six of Deerfield’s 13 shots. Shapiro praised these players for the strength and skill they demonstrated in the pool. “We had some awesome break seats from Sam Gove, and Issy Wise played extremely well in 2 meters. Our goalie, Ela, also played very well throughout the game,” she said.
With expectations of continuing their success, the girls are already preparing for their next games. Looking towards the future, Shapiro said, “We need to work on our movement more in upcoming practices and games because there were times when we were pretty stagnant and not doing much to progress the ball forwards.”
Mukherjee added to Shapiro’s comment, saying, “The team can work on passing the ball quicker and we can work on spreading out in the pool.”
The team’s next game is a double header this Saturday at Loomis Chaffee against Loomis and Williston. The team is hoping to ride the confidence garnered from last week’s win and carry its skill into upcoming matches. Big Red will head into this weekend with the same attitude it had against Deerfield, according to Gove. “We are going to try our best [...] and keep up this energy and team unity we have going,” she said.