On Thursday, October 1, the varsity girls water polo team defeated Saratoga 9-2 during a home conference game. With the win, the team improves to 7-5 this season overall and 5-0 in league play.

The first quarter started out well for Los Altos as they built up an early 3-0 lead with goals coming from senior Julia Suh, junior Kayleigh Peterson and sophomore Julia Santos.

In the second quarter, Saratoga answered back with a goal of their own, but the momentum was just too much to handle. Sophomore Annalisa Pao scored with 3:17 remaining, and Julia tacked on another with 1:50 left in the half, leaving the Eagles with a 5-1 lead at the half-time.

In the third quarter, senior co-captain Christina Pao assisted Julia on her third goal of the night with 6:45 left. One more goal each from Julia and Annalisa put the game safely out of reach at 8-2 before the fourth quarter even began.

In the final quarter of the game, with mere moments before the final whistle, Julia scored her fifth goal, bringing the game to a close with the Eagles winning 9-2. Although the offense missed some chances to add on to its already large lead, the strong defense and overwhelming offense were the keys to the victory.

“We really need to focus on our communication and just playing consistently,” Ellen said. “We are always working on our defense as well because that is a really important aspect of the game.”

The team’s next game is a non-conference game on Saturday, October 3 at home against Willow Glen. The next conference game is at home against Palo Alto on Thursday, October 6.