On October 25, Campolindo girls water polo won an exciting away game against rivals, Acalanes.
Campolindo started off strong, taking an initial 2-0 lead within the first quarter. However, the Dons struck back and got to within one point of the Cougs, making it a 4-3 game. Campo was able to reclaim their lead in the fourth quarter, scoring four goals and earning a hard-fought 8-5 victory.
The first two quarters went as planned for the Cougars. Before the game, the team “planned to go out, play hard, and be aggressive. Certain players had matchups that people had to guard and shut down,” said sophomore Ella Binney. With the successful implementation of their game plan, the Cougars maintained a 3-1 lead throughout the first half of the game.
However, the lead began to evaporate during the third quarter, which varsity senior Grace Gafni attributes to the team becoming “slightly overconfident” and losing focus during critical moments. Sophomore Caitlin Williams noted that they “started overthinking their plays,” which further distracted the team during the quarter. With that, the Dons scored 3 goals and were within 1 point of the cougars.
Despite complications during the third quarter, goalkeeper sophomore Sidney Kring was the true hero of the game, making miraculous saves that prevented Acalanes from truly getting back into the game. At the end of the third quarter, she managed to save a critical penalty, maintaining Campo’s small lead and filling the team with confidence going into the final quarter, which due to the amount of guessing involved in a save, is no easy task.
Campo returned to their positive first-half performance, scoring four goals in the final quarter and picking up an 8-5 victory, filling them with confidence as they go into NCS. Williams noted that “knowing that we can beat them gives us a huge confidence boost going into NCS.”
