The Palo Alto High School girls’ water polo team defeated Los Gatos High School 9-8 at the Paly pool on Thursday Oct. 6.

In their first league game the Lady Vikes fell short to the Wildcats 8-7.  This time the team came back ready to turn the tables.

“The last time we played them we lost by one, this time we won by one,” coach Spencer Dornin said. “This time we were down by two and we fought back and stayed together as a team.”

Both teams had a quick start, scoring two goals each in the first three minutes.  To keep the Lady Vikes in the fast paced game, goalie Eve Higgins (’12) made back-to-back saves in the fifth minute, giving Paly momentum as the game went on.  Throughout the match Higgins lead the team defensively with her tremendous saves.  Captain and driver Shannon Scheel (‘12) believes Higgins had an outstanding performance.

“She’s really stepped it up this year,” Scheel said. “She’s very serious and hard working. She kept us in the game.”

Higgins’ saves were followed by two powerful shots from Scheel, which were blocked by the Gatos’ keeper.  But she hustled back on defense causing a turnover and ripped her first goal of the game.  With two seconds left in the first quarter the Wildcats slipped in another goal, tying up the period 3-3.

Scheel began the second quarter winning her second of four sprints of the game.  The intensity of the game picked up with both teams taking three shots each in the first three minutes of the quarter.

Halfway through the second quarter the Lady Vikes called a time out, but quickly came back in, ready to settle their offense and control the pace of the game.  While the Paly offense slowed down, they worked hard on a high-pressure defense winning many important balls as the game went on.

As the half came to an end, Los Gatos challenged the Paly defense with a flurry of counters looking to tie up the game.  With less than one minute left in the half the Wildcats caught the Paly defense off guard and put in another goal, ending the quarter 4-4.

The game began to get physical in the third quarter with a Los Gatos player being ejected and the score continuing to bounce back and forth ending the quarter with Los Gatos up 6-7. 
Off the sprint Paly called a time-out looking to capitalize on their man-up situation against the Wildcats.

After being down the majority of the third and fourth quarter, Paly lead by offensive threat Sklylar Dorosin(’12)  fought back.  In the fourth quarter alone, Dorosin had two goals and an assist. Despite messy play in the pool, Dorosin’s efforts kept her team in the game.

“When a play didn’t go well we were able to turn around and change it,” said driver Hannah Park (‘12)

Both teams looked to pull away with some last minute goals, but ended up hitting the bar of the goal two times in a row each.

With less than two minutes left in the game Dorosin carried the ball down the pool and passed to open teammate Park. Park looked up and placed the shot in the top right corner giving the Lady Vikes a one goal advantage, 9-8.

“I knew I had to make a decisive move, and I shot,” Park said.

Los Gatos desperately looked to tie up the game as the clock counted down the last minute of the game.  The Lady Vikes hustled back in their high-pressure defense lead by keeper Higgins who blocked two close goals at the end of the game.  With a lead of 9-8 Paly stalled the last few seconds of the game, allowing them to pull out with a win against Los Gatos on Paly home turf.

The Lady Vikes’ next game is away on Wednesday Oct. 12 against Wilcox High School.