Spartan Scroll

photo by LIZBETH ZAMBRANO

by LIZBETH ZAMBRANO

On Dec. 5, in their season opener against San Clemente, Spartans fell behind and varsity lost 11-7, JV lost 15-3 and Frosh lost 10-5. 

“The beginning of the season for my team was kind of rough but it got better because we got a lot of new freshmen and it made me happy seeing them start to love water polo,” said JV player Lauren Acosta, sophomore. 

Later that week on Dec.10, Spartans faced Martin Luther King High School, varsity lost 11-9, JV lost 8-4 and Frosh won 12-5. On Dec. 17, in an away game against Huntington Beach High School, varsity won 9-7 and JV won 9-4. 

Taking their experience into their first Almont League game against rival, Montebello Oilers, Spartans emerged victorious. Varsity won 13-2 and JV won 12-2. On Jan. 28 Spartans were triumphant against the Bell Garden Lancers. Varsity winning 14-4 and JV also won 15-3. 

“At the beginning of the season it was rocky because we weren’t used to playing together and we needed to work more on being a team,” said varsity player, Naomi Bravo, sophomore. “We started getting to know one another better and I hope that for the end of our season, we can do just as good as last year or even better. But in order to reach that we need to trust in each other and play as a team, not as individuals.”

On Jan.24-25, winning against four different teams, JV girls water polo were champions of the Diamond Bar Tournament. 

In Irvine So. Cal Champs, girls varsity won two out of five games, winning 11-8 against Santa Barabara high school and won 9-7 against Woodrow Wilson. 

“We’re hoping to repeat as league champs again, but this season we’ve really been looking for the challenge of competing against higher-level water polo teams. We’ve entered varsity tournaments to see how well our JV team would stack up against varsity teams,” said JV coach Jonathan Ruiz.  

In their final league game against Mark Keppel, girls water polo won the title of league champions. JV won 11-3 and varsity won 14-3. In the Los Altos varsity tournament, JV received the Bronze Division Championship. 

Girls water polo competed in their final game of the season against Redondo Union High School,varsity won 15-8, JV won 8-3 and frosh lost 13-1,

Moving onto CIF, girls water polo won 12-9 in their first-round against Redondo Union. 

“This season started off slow but it got better as we got to know each other. There was rough patches since we didn’t know each other at the beginning of the season but once we got along we got through it and made it to CIF,” said freshman and varsity goalie, Erika Staine. 

“The season has gone well so far, we won league for the sixth time in a row. We had rough patch where we were struggling and lost seven straight games. Five straight up in the Santa Barbara tournament. The girls were discouraged and started doubting each other,” said head coach David Argumosa. “But when we got to the [Irvine] tournament we turned it around and had some big wins. Going into playoffs, for whatever reason CIF decided not to keep us in the top 10 so we were ranked number 11.”

In the CIF quarterfinals, varsity concluded their season Feb. 15 with a loss, 12-8, against  San Clemente High School.