After continuously exchanging the lead, St. Francis ultimately gained victory against SPHS.
Story by Kamillah Morales
Staff Writer
Photo by Adrian Lopez
Staff Photographer
Boys’ water polo faced St. Francis on Tuesday, Sept. 15, and lost 9–6. Both the Tigers and the St. Francis Knights displayed aggression and persistence as they scored goals, keeping the score even throughout the game. Eventually, the Knights increased the gap in the score towards the end, causing the Tigers to lose the game.
“I just felt like we definitely could have won this game,” sophomore Quinn Sullivan said.
St. Francis started with the ball in the face-off and kept it away from South Pasadena with steady passing. But, with just a few seconds left during their possession, the Knights made the first goal, bringing the score to 1–0 in the first 30 seconds of the game. Just a minute after, Sullivan managed to score to tie the two teams. Both teams had good defense and pressured their opponents. The possession of the ball switched for a while until St. Francis scored with over a minute left in the game. The quarter was about to end with the Knights in the lead, until junior Joshua Ha made a goal with only nine seconds left, tying the score 2–2.
The crowd was packed with supporters of each school who cheered throughout the game. Especially as players’ parents shouted fiery words of encouragement and criticism to the other team.
The Tigers began the second quarter with possession of the ball. The first pass was made to Sullivan, who settled in front of the net and tossed the ball in with ease. The score stayed at 3–2 with South Pasadena in the lead for most of the quarter until St. Francis made an offensive push, scoring back-to-back goals and taking the lead, 4–3. While Sullivan managed to score 20 seconds until the end of the second quarter again to briefly tie the game, the Knights stayed an arms length away, making a goal in front of the net. The quarter ended shortly after with St. Francis winning, 5–4.
The third quarter had both teams constantly swapping possession of the ball, yet it was the Knights again who scored the first shot a minute into the quarter. Senior Ethan Chang later scored a goal that hit the water right in front of the corner of the net and skipped smoothly past St. Francis’ goalkeeper. Still, St. Francis remained in the lead, 6–5.
“I [definitely feel like] the counters could have been something we should have worked on in our defense, but I think, overall, the offense isn’t that bad,” Sullivan said.
St. Francis kept their lead in the final quarter. Despite calling two timeouts, South Pasadena could not close the gap or make any more shots. Both teams began to get increasingly aggressive in their defense. The Knights’ crowd shouted “no shot, no foul” to St. Francis players, which pressured them to stay on top. St. Francis scored two more goals in the span of a minute, bringing the score to 9–6 to winthe game.
Despite the loss, the Tigers demonstrated great teamwork and pressure. Their next game was on Wednesday, Sept. 16 at 4 p.m. against the Muir Mustangs.
