Three days after facing the Santa Ynez Pirates, the girl’s water polo team hosted them on Nov. 20, 2019, at their home pool, the Ventura Aquatic Center. The Pirates were victorious on Monday’s game, and the home pool advantage was not beneficial to the Dragons.

The game kicked off with a decisive sprint by the Pirates, securing the ball drop. Annika Arroyo ‘20 made her presence known early as she fought through the defense and secured the first goal of the game, with the ball rocketing off her hand and into the top left corner of the goal.  

The next few minutes followed a listless pace as the Dragons racked up a few fouls and Santa Ynez failed to connect a series of shots. The pace began to pick up as Emily Secrieriu ‘22 passed the ball to Heidi Fedde ‘21, who put another goal in the bank for Foothill, widening the score to 2-0 only four minutes in.

Motivated by the deficit, Santa Ynez was able to skillfully navigate through Foothill’s defense and get off a few shots, which were then deflected by goalie Elyce Peck ‘22. However, the Dragon’s efforts were futile as the Pirates buried a shot in the back of the goal, grazing the goalie’s arm. 

The Dragons kept the aggressive energy present at the start of the second quarter as Arroyo secured another goal despite the loss of the ball drop. Santa Ynez responded with a goal 30 seconds later, making the score 3-2.

Back to back fouls by both teams lead to another goal by the Pirates, which traveled through the whole line of defensemen and just below the crossbar, a sign of fatigue from the Dragons. This goal stopped the scoring drought for Santa Ynez as they were able to score two more before the end of the quarter, bringing the score to 6-2 in favor of the Pirates. Fedde addressed her team’s exhaustion, saying “we’ve only been practicing for about two weeks, so I think we still have a bit of conditioning to do.” 

Foothill started off the third quarter promisingly, winning the sprint at the ball drop, but their energy quickly faded as Santa Ynez scored two consecutive goals just as each shot clock buzzer sounded ending their 30-second possession. Arroyo barred down and buried a goal in the top right corner with three people guarding her to respond to the goal, attempting to level the score from 8-4. The Pirates scores again, and the ball is thrown in the bottom left corner to end the third quarter, with Foothill trailing behind by five. 

Foothill won the ball drop once more going into the final eight minutes, but their efforts were in vain as the Pirates scored twice in the first two minutes. Despite an impressive deflection by Peck, Santa Ynez scored once more, making the score 5-12. Regardless of the tough game, varsity coach Victoria Lee was proud of her team, saying “they went to the end on every fight.”

Arroyo ended the game by driving the ball and placing it into the top right corner, making the final score 6-12. She thought the team improved on “spreading out the offensive side of the game throughout multiple players rather than just one person” as opposed to their previous game on Monday. 

The Dragons look to improve their stamina and conditioning to excel during the rest of the season. 

Coach Victoria Lee was impressed with the performance of her team and says they will continue to work on “playing as a team and keep moving”. The girls’ water polo team will get another chance to show off their talent on Thursday, Dec. 5 at the Mistletoe Tournament in Newbury Park.