By Uy Pham
Fountain Valley High School (FVHS) boys’ water polo (5-4) fell short of completing a comeback on Tuesday, falling to the Walnut High School Mustangs (8-4) in an 8-10 loss.
The Mustangs scored eight unanswered goals in the first half, yet the Barons sought to rally back by outscoring the Mustangs eight goals to two in the second half. However, ultimately, the Mustangs scored two late goals in the fourth period to secure the win.
Senior Ryan Zarzana helped to facilitate the flow of ball movement through the pool, scoring four goals with the offensive assistance of junior Billy Watkins. In goal, sophomore Elijah Merill made many crucial saves to keep the Barons in contention as the game progressed. On the defensive side, senior Charlie Koch worked to hold off the Mustangs’ attack while transitioning the Barons into offensive opportunities for two goals of his own.
Walnut kicked off the game with a fiery start, scoring three goals within the first five minutes of the period as the Barons struggled to get past Walnut’s defense. A long shot and a three-player combination player helped the Mustangs work around the Barons’ defense for a 0-3 lead.
Zarzana and senior Jake Xa both had shots blocked, and the Mustangs sped past the Barons’ defenders to score a fourth goal with 9 seconds remaining in the period.
“We started off real slow,” Barons’ head coach Kyle Adama said. “We weren’t pushing any of our tactics with any kind of real intensity.”
Similar patterns continued into the second period, as the Barons struggled to gain space for shots. The Mustangs’ defense remained firm and the Walnut goalie made several crucial saves to force the Barons’ shot off-target.
The Mustangs heaved a pass into the middle to score a goal, and another long overhead pass created space for the Mustangs to extend their lead to 0-6 with 4:52 remaining.
On the offensive side, Zarzana and Watkins tried to convert shots while Merrill continued to mitigate the Mustangs’ offensive wave with his key saves. However, after one of the saves, the Mustangs secured a rebound shot and scored yet another goal.
To finish off the period, Walnut’s offense sped past the Barons’ defense and maneuvered around Merrill’s hands to score the eighth goal of the half.
“[At the half], we needed to follow our game plan and just repeat what we were supposed to be doing for our tasks,” Adama said. “We need to hone down and think about the small details compared to the whole idea.”
Shifting the tempo of the game, the Barons scored three goals within a minute to open the third period. Zarzana found Koch for a top-corner shot into the cage, and Zarzana maneuvered his way to score two goals of his own.
Defensive stops from Koch and senior Anderson Luu provide more offensive opportunities for the Barons, with Zarzana finding space between the goalie’s arms to score the Barons’ fourth goal of the game. Finishing off the quarter, senior Noah Richardson faked a pass and shot the ball into the goal but was disallowed due to a foul.
However, to start off the fourth, Walnut disrupted the Barons’ momentum by skidding the ball off the surface of the water for their first goal of the second half.
Looking to respond, with 4:39 remaining, Watkins found Koch in front of the goal. Koch spun and turned around the keeper to close the deficit to 5-9. Luu secured a goal of his own with a counterattack, but Walnut soared the ball into the top right of the cage to extend their lead to 6-10.
With 2:22 remaining, senior Jake Nguyen found Watkins for another goal, and Zarzana scored a low shot to the bottom corner. However, with limited time remaining, the late goals were not enough to close the deficit, and the Barons finished with a loss of 8-10.
“We found our bearings in the [second half], but it was just way too late,” Adama said. “We need to start playing from the beginning and bring the intensity from the get-go. We can’t start slow again.”
The Barons’ next game will be their first league matchup on Wednesday against Los Alamitos at 3:00 p.m in the FVHS pool.
