The Paly boys’ water polo team fell to the Davis High School 16-5 Saturday afternoon at Paly in the the North-South challenge tournament. The boys took 16th after going 0-4 this weekend.
The two teams battled in the first quarter with the Blue Devils only leading by one goal. However, the Blue Devils came out strong in the second quarter with seven goals, three of them from driver Wade Allen (’11). Allen had a total of six goals for Davis in the game.
“We took advantage of their making mistakes, any mistake they would make I would just take off [on the counter],” Allen said.
Allen believed his team took advantage of Paly’s stagnant offense and bad passes to take the lead going into the second half.
“We created goals for the other team through bad passes and individual skills issues and fundamental issues, like swimming with your head up,” Paly assistant coach for the Craig Rockhold said.
Going into the second half, the score was 9-2. In the second half, the Vikings scored three goals and the Blue Devils scored seven. The Vikings failed to convert the majority of their 6-5 power plays.
“We need to work on moving the ball, being more aware and getting ahead early,” two meter defender Aaron Zelinger (’12) said.
Despite the loss, the Vikings executed their game plan and worked on the elements of the game that they wanted to improve on.
“We wanted them to learn zone nine defense, and the last two quarters they effectively learned how to play this defense,” Rockhold said.
The Vikings view the game, and ultimately the weekend, as a learning experience, rather than a disappointment.
“We got to see some of the best competition in California,” Zelinger said. “Now we know what we can expect from the better teams and we are going to try to translate [that] into our play going into Central Coast Section (CCS) and leagues.”
“[Going in the rest of the season] we are going to concentrate on playing zone defense and do a better job on our driving,” Rockhold said.
This week the Viking defeated Mountain View High school 12-9 on Tuesday at Paly and will play Gunn High School on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. at home.
