El Segundo takes down Samo water polo team

On Oct. 10 in Samo’s Drake Pool, the boys’ water polo teams hosted El Segundo for their first official home league match of the season. After an intense back and forth game, and multiple lead changes, the El Segundo squad managed to steal this match away from Samo with a score of 7-11. The game opened decisively in Samo’s favor. A series of quick and concise scores against an unprepared El Segundo defense gave Samo an early lead, despite a couple strong offensive attacks by their opposition. This lead would sustain itself for a large majority of the game. However, the lead could not last throughout the entire game. A couple defensive mishaps left Samo’s goal as free real estate for the hungry and aggressive El Segundo team. Gundo began to consistently score on easy opportunities granted to them by Samo’s defense, which slowly turned the tides in their favor. Despite continuing their strong offensive attack and never letting up their assault, Samo could not surmount a comeback in time. Head coach Matthew Flanders saw it this game as a learning experience for the roster, which still has much room for improvement before the team has to officially defend their 2018 CIF championship. “It sucks to lose… but we didn’t really play a good defense, we’ll have to work on that in the future,” Flanders said. Captain and goaltender Aaron Akhavan (’20) highlighted that despite the loss, the team should look towards the future in order to bounce back. “Everyone’s has to improve on everything, including myself,. I think right now we have to have the right mentality and not let our confidence or mindset hinder our capabilities. [We lost a couple games] but it is the past and right now we are focused on the present. Every team has their struggles and it is up to us to get past them,” Akhavan said. The teams dedication to their craft won’t go unnoticed, and as the semester continues they’ll only bolster their strengths and work to eradicate their weaknesses.