The varsity girls’ water polo team lost to Miramonte 5-4 in overtime on October 30. However, given the turnover on the roster from just a year ago, the squad came away from the defeat with confidence about their chances in the post season.

“Our game versus Mira went well,” said sophomore Paige Chivers. “We started the game hard and, more importantly, played a 4-quarter game, which was one of our team’s biggest goals this season.”

With only a few seconds remaining and Miramonte leading 4-3, the Cougars’ sophomore Maggie Hawkins scored, sending the game into overtime.

Senior Nina Munson said, “We ran a time-out play that we had never done before. It ended up working and Maggie Hawkins scored the goal which put us into overtime. This is a great example of the younger players’ improvement.”

Members of the team remain optimistic heading into the post-season. Junior Sofia Vattuone said, “I think throughout this year we have grown closer because of all the hard work we have put in.”

“Our team has improved immensely throughout the season and it has taken us to where we are now,” agreed Chivers.

According to Munson, there is plenty of talent among the underclassmen. Munson said that the team’s identity needed to be “reworked” after last year and “that it was vital to [their] success to have those younger girls step up.”

While the team has “already achieved a lot of [their goals] for this year,” according Vattuone, they hope to “put in a lot of hard work and focus” before facing the Matadors again. “We can hopefully get close to beating them. We have a few small errors to fix before we face [Miramonte] again,” she said.

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