The varsity boys’ water polo team played Malibu High School today at the Ventura Aquatics Center, and lost with a final score of 5-17.

Senior and team captain James Florez scored two goals; junior Mitchell Caldwell, senior Colin Brown, and freshman Kevin Waechter each scored once. Goalie Paul Byrne, a senior, blocked Malibu from scoring 10 times.

In the third quarter of the game, Foothill “played even” with Malibu, both teams scoring three points each.

“This is no small feat as Malibu is the number one team in [Foothill’s] division,” said coach David Wallace.

Byrne blocked a “point blank” shot and made a counter-attack pass, which resulted in Foothill’s two-on-one counter attack goal.

“It was one of the best plays all season by Paul,” said Wallace.

Wallace believes that “[Foothill] did a very nice job of finding the open shooter against the drop defense” throughout the game.

However, Wallace also believes that “[Foothill] needs to do a better job of recognizing the mismatch [on defense].” He hopes it will allow Foothill to double team more effectively. A double team is when two defensive players, rather than the usual one, guard the offensive “set” player, or the player directly in front of the goal.

The varsity team now has a league record of zero wins and eight losses.

The junior varsity (JV) team also played against Malibu and lost with a score of 8-14. The junior varsity team’s league record stands at five wins and three losses.

Wallace looks forward to “getting back to practice to work on the game plan for Cate School,” who Foothill will play on Oct. 31.