On Sept. 21, 2023, the Foothill Technology High School (Foothill Tech) boys’ water polo team faced off against Malibu High School (Malibu) at the Ventura Aquatic Center in their seventh game of the season. The Dragons fought hard against Malibu’s offensive efforts and escaped with a narrow loss of 8-12.

With several close quarters, Foothill Tech had high hopes of taking the lead but had several balls that simply couldn’t find the back of the net.

Ethan Ortiz ‘25 made his presence known in Foothill Tech’s goal with blocks and defensive plays. Along with Ortiz, his teammates Turner Stehle ‘25 and Jack Merritt ‘25 also had strong personal performances to keep Malibu within reach, but unfortunately couldn’t prevent the sharks from swimming away with the victory in the hard-fought battle.

After having time to reflect upon the loss, Merritt stated, “I think that we all did our best, I think the team definitely tried hard in practice … We lost our last game, but it was definitely close and it was definitely a lot closer than last time we played [Malibu]. Overall, I feel we’re all improving as a team.”

Although the dragons maintained strong offense throughout the game, some issues arose with their defensive performance. Ortiz gave his thoughts on the team’s defensive efforts, reflecting, “Our biggest problem yesterday was more just our spacing … they’d fall into an immediate drop, the problem with that is that we were just too close together. So it just made their lives easier.”

With the Dragons having been plagued with an apparent and unrelenting losing streak, they hope there is still time in the season for a turning of the tides. They seek redemption on Sept. 28, against the Villanova Preparatory School (Villanova).

Gallery • 2 Photos

Luigirey Guce

Sutton Jones '24 scans the pool for an opportunity to score. During the first couple minutes of the game, Foothill Tech and Malibu were trading shots, each trying to score. Jones facilitates his teams offense trying to make it easier for the Dragons to score.