The Paly boys’ water polo team conquered the Mountain View Spartans with a final score of 8-5. With this win, its record becomes 8-2-0 as the season continues.

The game started off with an early shot by Mountain View that was tipped by goalie Luke Schroeder (‘15). The Spartans kept putting pressure on Paly until Ray Zhao (‘15)  intercepted a pass to start a quick counter attack for the Vikings.

Taking advantage of this opportunity, Winston Rosati (’16) turned and scored a quick shot to the upper right corner, making the score 1-0 with 5:08 left to play in the quarter. Schroder blocked Mountain View’s quick counter, keeping the Vikings in lead for another possession.

Another block by Schroder allowed Paly to move the ball up and earn themselves another goal by Rosati, bringing the score to 2-0 with 3:30 remaining in the quarter.

Mountain View scored with five seconds remaining in the quarter, but the goal was not counted. The score read 2-0 going into the second quarter.

The second quarter started with another goal by Rosati, making it 3-0 with 6:20 remaining in the half. Strong performances by Rosati and Schroder kept the Vikings dominating.

Schroder blocked two Spartan attacks in a row, giving Paly a quick counter attack as Zhao assisted Rosati. Rosati then turned and scored a behind-the-back shot. This brought the score to 4-0 with four minutes remaining in the first half.

Mountain View then scored its first goal of the game, making the score 4-1 as the Spartans called its first timeout of the game.

The Spartans came back strong, scoring another goal with 1:47 until halftime.

Shortly after a Paly timeout, Rosati scored his first goal of the half making the score 5-2 with 6:20 remaining in the third quarter.

Rosati passed the ball to Novak who was driving in, earning Paly yet another goal.

Schroder blocked another one of the Spartans’ shots, but was then scored on during Mountain View’s next possession, bringing the score to 6-3 Paly with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter.

The Vikings continued to put pressure on the Spartans, but a shot made by Andrew Jozefov (‘17) was blocked by the goalie. Schroder then made yet another block to stop Mountain View’s quick counter attack.

The Spartans then scored on a skip shot into the bottom left corner, making the score 6-4 going into the last quarter.

Paly won the ball with a double team by Hans Usman (‘15) and Lucas Novak (‘15), but were unable to execute a shot, giving the Spartans another offensive attack that was luckily blocked by Schroeder.

The Vikings called their second timeout with 5:27 remaining. Jared Stanley (‘17) scored one for the Vikings quickly after, giving Paly a three-point lead going into the last five minutes of the game.

Zhao blocked a Spartan shot and Paly had a quick attack, but the ball was stolen, giving Mountain View the chance to score off of a counter. This play made it a two-point game with 1:09 remaining in the fourth.

Novak passed it over the Spartan defense to Rosati, allowing him to score his sixth goal of the game. The Vikings finished the game with a final, winning score of 8-5.

Paly will have a BYE this Thursday but will play the Los Altos Eagles at 3:30 p.m. on October 28th at Los Altos.