With the week of September 11-15, all water polo players have just had a thrilling game. This week, Granada players went out to Martinez for their game against Alhambra.
So far the season is rough sailing, as the teams are still molding together, trying to improve teamwork through learning the team and making plays. This game would be a nice turning point for the season for Granada, and would put them back on track. Arriving from the hour drive in time for the JV boys game, the start of the game was looking promising for Granada.
The start of the first quarter was strong for Granada. So strong that the middle quarter was played by the starters for the match. Off the start of the match, the sprint was lost to Alhambra. Their sprinter passed the ball back, and it was defense for Granada. But with a foul starting a turnover, Granada was on offense, with 30 seconds starting on their shot clock. With the clock not even at the 15 second mark, James Reuter was able to score, putting Granada up 1-0.
This made Reuter say, “In that moment I felt like Granada was going to do great.”
Reuter thanked, “whoever assisted me with that well placed throw, could not have done it without them.”
But that’s when it all went wrong for the quarter. Alhambra got a play on the ball and scored a goal, catching up and making the score a tie. But they did not stop there, as one of their players, wearing an Alhambra cap with the number ¨3¨ on it, continued to score 3 more goals that quarter, with another scoring 1, ending the quarter around the 1-5 mark for Granada.
With the second quarter starting, it was only slightly better. Alhambra got in another couple of goals, with some being barely saved. The previously interviewed Reuter got another for Granada, giving them 2, but Alhambra was at around the 7 goal mark by the time Granada got theirs. The quarter ended with only 1 more goal for Granada and another 2 for Alhambra, making it 3-9.
This could have been avoided, said a very energized Dylan Kandal, one of the captains of the JV boys team. He knew what was wrong.
“It is that there are times where they [Alhambra] will just match themselves up against someone who they knew they could outswim, allowing them to maneuver away from any possible defenders,” said Kandal. He went on to say he thought his team should, “ask to swap with a teammate if they felt they were outspeed.”
In the third quarter, with the sides swapped from halftime, Granada started to pick it up. They managed to get a couple of steals due to fouls and turnovers, and get another goal for themselves. But in this quarter, many goals would have been made if it was not for the goalie of that quarter, Ben Miller.
Miller said, “Being a goalie is hard stuff, but I cannot imagine swimming up and down the pool full force for as long as some of my teammates do.”
Miller also said that he could have blocked more if, “the cherry-pickers had someone guarding them so that they did not get such an easy shot on goal.”
With Alhambra having a smaller team, substitutions are rarer for them, but when they subbed back in number 3, who went all out, making the end score of that quarter 4-11, with the quarter ending a bit early due to a malfunction with the shot clocks and the timer on the scoreboard.
By the time the 4th quarter was beginning, it was getting really dark. The pool was only illuminated by the lights outside and players were just playing to see if they could bring it back. And while Alhambra got another 5 goals in, Leo Quijalvo got a well-placed skip shot, with the ball bouncing off the water and soaring into the upper left corner, giving Granada one last goal for the game before Alhambra stalled out the clock, leading to Granada losing 5-16.
Quijalvo said he was, “happy to have made the goal, and I thought it looked really cool”. This goal made him, “not care as much about the loss because at least I had fun.”
So with the players headed home, it was clear that Granada is improving, especially with their mostly new roster, and it was also clear that they will surely bring home a win soon.
