By Jonathan Tran
On Wednesday, Sept. 28, the varsity boys’ Water Polo team suffered their second loss in the Sunset-Wave league at the hands of the Marina Vikings at Corona Del Mar High School. Although the team stands at an overall score of 10-3, this loss set them back 0-2 in the league and placed them last in the standings.
“It was a frustrating game,” senior Ruben Andelin said. “I feel like we didn’t really play to our game plan at all. They didn’t have any subs, and we didn’t swim as hard as we should have.”
The first quarter started poorly for the Barons. Minutes into the game, the Vikings’ aggressive playstyle landed them their first goal against the Barons. This was followed shortly by another goal scored by Marina’s left-wing player, setting the score to 0-2.
However, after this goal, the Barons started to gain momentum over the Vikings and were able to take repeated shots at the net, but this was to no avail. The concrete defense put up by the Viking defenders blocked shot after shot until junior Travis Ziebarth finally scored with 49 seconds left in the quarter, putting the Barons on the scoreboard.
With Ziebarth’s score, the Vikings decided to call for a quick timeout and returned to the game with a vengeance. The lightning offense of the Vikings scored another two goals, ending the quarter with a score of 1-4.
Going into the second quarter, the Barons struck back early with a goal of their own, setting the score to 2-4. As possession of the ball alternated between both teams’ offenses, Andelin on the Barons’ side scored another goal, but the Vikings repaid it with a score of their own, bringing the score up to 3-5.
This was followed by another period of back and forth between the Barons and the Vikings who would take turns scoring goals on each other. This was only broken for a short time by a penalty given to junior Nathan Tran, who scored and brought the score up to 4-5. This alternating possession and scoring lasted until the near end of the quarter.
However, with the scoring being 6-7 and three seconds left in the quarter, Tran managed to pull off a goal from the center of the pool, tying the score 7-7 for the first time in the game.
In the third quarter, the Barons were crushed by the Vikings as they were able to score two early goals, but senior Ruben Andelin retaliated with a score of his own. The Barons then traded two goals for one. This ended the quarter with a score of 9-11.
Coming to an end in the last quarter, the Barons managed to score another goal on the foul of a player from Marina, but also scored on by a penalty given to the Vikings. This is followed by a score by the Barons as a last-ditch effort to finish out the game strong, ending with a score of 11-12.
“I think we could have communicated better,” Andelin said. “We had people playing positions that they’re not really specialized to play.”
The Barons are set to play against Corona Del Mar on Oct. 5 at 4 p.m. at Edison High School.
