AWHS water polo makes a splash on Terra Linda High School

AWHS+senior+Cole+Wooster+goes+in+for+goal+against+Terra+Linda+in+the+home+game+on+Monday%2C+Sept.+20.

Jackson Oliver-Roa

AWHS senior Cole Wooster goes in for goal against Terra Linda in the home game on Monday, Sept. 20.

On Monday, Sept. 20, AWHS water polo beat Terra Linda High School in both games with a final score of 21-4 for Varsity and 11-8 for JV. This was both AWHS JV and Varsity’s second league game at home, following the first league game against Marin Academy.

The JV team had a slow start: after the first quarter they were down by two points. After a back-and-forth between squads, AWHS prevailed after being tied up at eight goals and finishing with three goals.

“There are always things you can work on, especially on defense,” said JV Coach Cory Mano. “We don’t want to give up eight goals every game, so we need to play a little bit better defense. Other than that we are nice and crisp.”

Throughout the game, the AWHS offense scored 11 goals.

“We feel good, we had a pretty good showing at the tournament in Miramonte a couple weeks ago. We met some pretty good teams there and played well and I think we will be competitive and we are excited to keep it up,” Mano said.

Mano had high praise and hopes for his team as they got ready to play on Wednesday, Sept. 22 against Marin Academy at AWHS.

  After the JV game, AWHS Varsity led the first quarter of their game 4-1. After that, they opened it up without turning back, adding to their score with an eventual grand total of 21 points. While their offense was rolling, their defense held them to four points.

AWHS bench supporting their team and ready to go in at the beginning of the game on Monday, Sept. 20.

“We were very patient on offense and we took care of the ball decently well, we always worked for the best shot,” said Varsity Coach Matt Swanson. 

With only 30 given seconds on offense, the AWHS Varsity team was able to maintain possession. This later translated to great defense, Swanson says, as the boys held TL to an astoundingly low four points.

“We did turn the ball over a few more times than I would have liked, so controlling the ball  [is something we need to work on]. We play three more games this week against pretty good teams,” Swanson said. 

AWHS Water Polo coaches feel that their teams are off to a great start this season. With another home game on Wednesday Sept. 23 against Tamalpais Varsity, the Varsity team is hungry to pile on another win.