Having defeated them once before, the women’s water polo team was not surprised when it took the win of 10-7 against Rio Hondo last Wednesday.
Coach Corey Stanbury said that when the team had played Rio before, EC won 15-8.
“I think I went in with a pretty good mindset, but a couple of us went into the game underestimating Rio and thinking it would be a cakewalk,” Erica Shaw, team captain, said.
Player Margaret Drischler said that at the start of the game they were confident that they would win because Rio Hondo is one of the weaker teams in the conference. However, when Rio Hondo took a 4-1 lead, the Warriors started to get nervous.
“I think in the beginning of the game, we didn’t do so well connecting as a team, and we weren’t playing to the best of our abilities, but towards the end we pulled it together and put away enough goals to actually win the game,” Drischler said.
“Personally, I don’t think this was one of my best games, but I was able to score five goals and help the team make a comeback,” Drischler said.
Despite a few initial setbacks, the team came up from behind and took the game, Shaw said.
” I think it shows good mental strength that we pulled ourselves together even though nothing was really going our way,” Shaw said.
Shaw added that she was really proud of the team for making that turnaround.
Even though the women took the game, Stanbury said that he was not sure if they played as well as they could have.
” The game was pretty sluggish when it started and we had a rough time shooting,” Stanbury said.
Drischler said that she didn’t think this game was one of their best games, but that a win is still an accomplishment.
Shaw said that the women started out slowly but picked up defense pretty quickly, which helped the team pick up more momentum.
The team had six assists and 19 steals altogether. Goalkeeper Alexandra Stumpf had three saves. Shaw made three goals. Julie Bower and Chloe Rodriguez each made one goal.
The majority of the goals were made by Margaret Drischler, who made five out of the 10 goals. Katelynn Sloss and Drischler both made 4foursteals and Shaw made seven steals.
“Right now, we are mostly getting led by sophomores,” Stanbury said.
Sloss said that the team played well but that the players need to work on their countering. This is due to the fact that they only managed a limited few countering goals during the game, when they were capable of making a lot more.
“We have been working a lot on countering in practice right now,” Sloss said.
Stanbury said that other than having a rough time with its shooting, the team played really well.
“It was nice, like it always is, to have a win at home,” Sloss said.
Stanbury said that the team has been gearing up in practices for the last few games of the season.
“We have an upcoming game against the number three team in the state tomorrow, and they are really good,” Stanbury said.
Therefore, the team is working hard to be a competitive presence.
“The team practices every day. They have a two-hour practice in the morning and a one-hour practice in the afternoon,” Stanbury said.