Last Friday and Saturday, September 26 and 27, the girls water polo team participated in the Amanda MacDonald tournament. Many tough teams competed in the tournament, including private powerhouses like St. Francis and Castilleja and De Anza league opponents Los Gatos and Palo Alto.

The Eagles started out strong on Friday, winning a close game against Carlmont by a score of 5-3. Then, they moved on and beat Sobrato in a nail-biter, breaking a 3-3 tie with under two minutes to go to win 4-3.

These results brought them into Saturday as one of four unbeaten teams, along with St. Francis, Alcalanes and Sir Francis Drake. In their semifinal against St. Francis, the Eagles started off strong, holding a close 3-2 lead after three quarters. However, the Lancers managed to tie the game and take the lead in the fourth quarter, leading to a 3-6 defeat for the Eagles. Despite the loss, junior captain Christina Pao was happy with the way the team played.

“We played some of the best water polo we ever had as a team against St. Francis,” Christina said.

The loss put the Los Altos in the third place game against Sir Francis Drake High School. The Eagles lost the game 3-9, ending their tournament and putting them in fourth place out of 16 teams.

Following a league loss last Thursday to Saratoga, the weekend’s play helped regenerate energy among the team.

“[T]his is the huge confidence boost that we needed,” Christina said. “We definitely are going to use the energy from the tournament to fuel our games against Mountain View and Palo Alto this week.”

Los Altos has their next home game this Tuesday against rival Mountain View at 6:45 pm.