Girls Water Polo Continues Winning Streak at Home against El Segundo

On Jan. 23, Samo’s girls water polo team defeated El Segundo High School, winning their fourth home game of the season with a final score of 12-2.The team started off strong with the majority of their goals were scored in the first half of the game by Shanna Stevenson (’17), Kalen Lehmann (’17) and Alissa Hattori (’17). The lady greenies really showed their skills during the first half of the game, thinking quickly and executing plays to take the lead. Thus ending the half 11-1.“I think in the game we did our best in creating opportunities for goals to be scored,” Ava Tung (’19) said. In the second half of the game, the team really utilized their defensive skills opposed to the offense that they demonstrated earlier. “We communicated a lot when it came to defense,” Lehmann said.El Segundo attempted many shots in the third and fourth quarters but thanks to the Samo’s defense and good blocking by players like Tung, Lehmann, Sara Amirdelfan (’19), Harper Smith (’19) and the team’s goalie, only one goal was made. Samo continued to keep their lead throughout the second half of the game but only managed to score one goal.“We should have done better with our shooting skills but we executed some good shots overall,” Lehmann said.Even though the team didn’t score much in the second half, their communication skills and impressive defense helped them to end the game with a final score of 12-2.“[Despite our success,] I think we need to work on being more aware and noticing and processing everything that’s going on around us faster,” Tung said.According to coach Matthew Flanders, the team’s overall skill when compared to El Segundo is a significant part of what contributed to their win.“They are just a better, more trained, more disciplined, better conditioned team,” Flanders said.Samo really had to work on both their offense and defense to win their fourth home game of the season and are looking forward to utilizing those skills in their next game against Torrance High School on Wednesday, Jan. 25.