The Paly boys’ water polo team suffered a disappointing defeat to Monta Vista on Senior Night by the score of 11-10.

The game started out with many Paly seniors playing out of position in their final home game.  This helped the visitors to take a quick 2-0 lead after just two minutes had passed.

“I don’t think it really affected us that much, just maybe for a little bit at the beginning, but we really can’t blame that for a less than perfect performance,” coach Aaron Johnson said about the effects of Senior Night on his team.

The remainder of the quarter went back and forth, highlighted by a no-look goal from senior Kevin Bowers (‘16) that took the score to 3-2 after another Monta Vista goal and a successful penalty from Winston Rosati (‘16).  Andrew Jozefov (‘17) scored two late goals to give the Vikings the lead going into the 2nd quarter.

The back and forth theme continued through the 2nd quarter which saw Monta Vista score four goals and Paly score three, two from Jared Stanley (‘17) and another from Bowers.  The close affair was level at 7-7 after the first half of play.

A Monta Vista own goal from their goalie saw the Vikings take a 8-7 lead at the start of the 3rd quarter.  The two sides exchanged goals twice that saw Paly keep their lead by a score of 10-9.  Both Viking goals came from Stanley.

A much lower scoring 4th quarter would only see two goals, despite numerous chances on both ends.  Monta Vista scored both those goals to take an 11-10 lead with four minutes left to play.  The Vikings had numerous chances to pull the game level or take the lead, but they couldn’t capitalize.

Despite this disappointing defeat, the team will hope to continue on through the last two games and into the postseason.

“I definitely hope to win the League tournament, we beat Gunn so obviously we’re capable of doing that.  I think this was a little hiccup in our season, but I don’t think it will impede us from qualifying for CCS,” Stanley said as the the team hopes to move on from this defeat.

The Vikings close out their season with two away games at Los Altos and Wilcox respectively before heading into the postseason.