Boys water polo takes a swing at Beverly

On Oct. 10, Samo boys water polo won their second league game against Beverly Hills High School, with a score of 18-7. The game went well for Samo, putting them ahead of their rivals in Ocean League.The game started off strong with Samo up 8-0. Samo instantly got hold of the ball with Reaph Whitebloom (’17) winning the sprints in the first two quarters. By the end of the first half, Samo put in the only freshman goalie on varsity, Aaron Akhavan (’20).“We had one of the strongest starts in a game this season,” Nir Ribak (’18) said. Even though Beverly scored a few goals in the second half, Samo still lead with a score of 12-3. The three goals made by Beverly were shot during three thirty second ejections on Samo's behalf. Once Samo started climbing the score boards, Beverly decided to up their strategy by being more aggressive. This caused many penalties for Beverly, promoting them to play even rougher.“They really play like jerks but as long as we won, it didn’t really matter,” Quinlan Plukas (’19) said. Beverly’s violent plays continued into the third quarter, during which coach Matthew Flanders allowed the second unit of kids to play in the game, giving a lot of people who usually don’t get to play some playing time. Samo gained two points during this quarter.“The game went as expected, giving the bench a great reason to play,” Peter Lee (’19) said. The game ended with both teams scoring four points, showing that Beverly’s aggressiveness was taking a toll on Samo’s plays. “We came in pretty good but we have to learn to keep that intensity the entire game,” Carlos Edwards-Palomo (’17) said.