The girls water polo finished in fourth place in the De Anza League and now heads to CCS for the second time in three years. After improving throughout the year, the team hopes to do well in CCS to finish the season on a strong note.

On Thursday, November 7 the team took on Palo Alto High School and beat them 8 to 4. The Lady Eagles dominated the Vikings for the majority of the match, but slipped in the second quarter, when they lost hold of a three-point lead.

“We were doing great the first quarter [3-0] but then we started letting up and Paly scored 2 goals,” junior Ya’el Weiner said. “From there we really got our heads in the game and started running an effective offense and really shutting down on defense which was key, to give us the upper hand for most of the game.”

The Lady Eagles executed the offense that they have been working on all season by getting the ball into the two meter position and then kicking it out for shots. One of the keys that helped out the team was there strong senior leadership, as the seniors are now extra motivated coming into the closing stretch of their high school careers.

“We did a good job on defense and we communicated really well,” senior Casey Vanneman said.

This win put the Lady Eagles in the top four of the league, qualifying them for CCS. However, the streak did not last long as the next day, Friday, November 8, the team lost to Henry M. Gunn High School 13 to 2, in the semi-finals of the league tournament.

“They were more aggressive than us which allowed them to take control of the game,” junior Romy Aboudarham said.

After a strong first half effort, the score was 4 to 2, but afterward the fatigued team made countless turnovers and could never catch up. While Gunn had a bye, the team had faced off against the Vikings the previous day.

“We started to lose control in the second half due to being tired,” Romy said. “We did not protect the ball and did not communicate on offense causing many turnovers throughout the game due to poor passing and it being stolen from us.”

Now the team will wait for official CCS seedings to come out and will prepare for its first game. The players are excited to go to CCS as they have not been since 2011.

“Jenna and I are the only ones who have been to CCS so it will be a really good experience for our younger girls,” Casey said.