Girls’ WoPo Dominates Double-Header
Hands grappling for the ball, powerful legs treading underwater, waves splashing in every direction, the clock ticks down the time left for any player to score a goal. Last weekend, Exeter Girls’ Water Polo defeated not only one, but two teams at home: Choate and Suffield. The back-to-back victories marked their sixth and seventh wins of the season.
With the stunning scores of 12-5 against Choate and 13-6 against Suffield, the team certainly played to the best of their ability, showcasing what they had trained for all season. The confidence they had built up from the team’s several successful games carried them to dominate the pool last weekend. Lower Ursie Wise said, “I expected that we would win both games before they began, but was impressed by how well our team played.”
Earlier in the season, the team played and defeated Choate at an away game, where the competition was fierce and the win was hard-earned. Getting a chance to beat Choate once again was certainly an opportunity the team did not pass up. Prep Grace Emmick said, “Going into the game, the team was excited to face Choate again because of how competitive the previous game was.”
However, due to the nature of the double-header, the team had to take the order of the games into account. “We originally thought we would be playing Suffield first, which is a much easier team to play. When we realized we would play Choate first, we were all a little more on edge,” prep Lindsay Machado said. “After the Choate win, our confidence was high and we went into the Suffield game much more relaxed.”
In the pool, several well-placed shots and smart passes by Big Red kept Choate and Suffield at bay on the scoreboard. Emmick said, “Both Sam [Gove] and Rose [Coviello] had amazing games, and Ginny [Vazquez-Azpiri] came through with important goals, especially in the Choate game.” In addition, various players scored their first shots of the season for the team. Machado said, “Our goalie Ela [Ferhangil] made a lot of smart passes that let us score on a counter-attack. Also, Ramyanee [Mukherjee] had her first goal of the season in the Suffield game. And Sam Gove, as always, was a force to be reckoned with.”
Besides simply having a great game, the team enjoyed the energetic atmosphere all of the players brought to the pool, which has been present in all of their games throughout the season. “The team dynamic has been energetic and ready to work all season,” Emmick said.
Moving forward, the team is planning on improving their stellar technique by honing in on the small details during practices. “For the rest of the season, we will be working on how to set up during [man-up] advantages, how to play whole set and whole defense and of course working on shot accuracy,” Wise said.
Big Red Girls’ Water Polo looks forward to keeping up their hard work, strong mindset and positive attitude. Regarding goals for future games in the upcoming season, senior Gabby Allen said, “This is our last week! After coming in second at Liquid 4 last year, we are really determined to win the tournament this year.” Senior captain Sam Gove shared these sentiments, saying, “We’ve mostly been running plays in practice to prepare for the final tournament. We just hope to play our best and have fun in our last weekend of games this season.”