Water Polo Destroys Double Header
Last Saturday, Big Red Boys’ Varsity Water Polo once again proved their long-standing dominance in the pool in a double header against Massachusetts’ Williston Northhampton and Hopkins School. After a phenomenal 9–4 win against Williston, Big Red was nowhere near done scoring goals, collecting victories and proving the might of Big Red Water Polo. The team continued their winning streak to defeat Hopkins with a stunning final score of 19–4.
Having come off of a stellar game against Andover this past Wednesday, the team had espeially high morale this week. Upper Adam Tuchler described the team’s expectations going into the game. “Although we played in a smaller, shallow pool, we didn’t let that set us back. We came to win and that’s what we did," he said.
Williston North Hampton proved to be a challenging match, but this did not hinder Big Red from victory. “We were expecting a competitive team from Williston,” head coach Don Mills described. “Hopkins has a phenomenal goalie, so we expected him to keep it close. However, he received three ejections and was out by the third quarter.”
A major factor that contributed to both wins was the team’s excellent defensive skills in the pool. “I thought one of the big highlights from this weekend was our team defense,” assistant coach Avery Reavill said. “Everyone was looking to frustrate the opposition on Saturday and I think it showed as both games got into the third and fourth quarters.”
Although the entire team certainly stepped it up together last weekend to take home not one, but two wins, there were a few standout players. In particular, both Mills and senior Michael Carbone shouted out upper Cooper Walshe for his remarkable drive and outstanding plays in the first game against Williston.
Carbone said, “Cooper helped to bring the team together during the WNH game because we were not keeping up during the first half. Cooper stepped up during the second half to bring us together to get a lot of kick-outs which led to lots of goals.”
Moving forward, “Bear Polo” has set high expectations, including defeating Loomis, whose performance so far this season has also been top-notch, in the coming weeks, and preparing for the final Interschols tournament where they will face the entire league. “We are looking to do better during Interschools at the end of the year [because] last year we lost the first game in that tournament,” Carbone said.
Despite their seemingly unstoppable wins, the team still hopes to improve their offensive capability. Coach Reavill said, “If we can combine our intensity on defense and roll that into our offense, we’ll keep putting ourselves in position to win games going forward.”