On a hot Tuesday afternoon, the Palo Alto High School girls’ water polo team took on cross-town rival Gunn at Paly. The hard-fought physical battle ended with a score of 6-4 in Gunn’s favor.

Defense was the story of the first half for both teams. Paly got off to a slow start allowing Gunn to get on the board first with an early goal.  Emma Wolfe (’14) fired Paly’s first goal to tie the game. Gunn however, responded with another goal to end the first quarter with a 2-1 lead.

The defensive showcase continued into the second quarter, with goalie Abby Bromberg (’13) keeping the Lady Vikes in the game by making many key saves. A long range goal by Martine LeClerc (’13) tied the game 2-2 at halftime.

Goals started to pile up for Gunn at the start of the second half. Three quick goals were scored to give the Titans a 5-2 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

LeClerc scored her second goal of the game with three minutes remaining to give the Lady Vikes hope for a comeback. Yet Gunn continued to drive its offense with a goal from Carolina Anderson (’14), which gave the Titans a 6-3 advantage late in the game. Paly attacker Tara Lawrence (’14) scored with one minute remaining to cut the deficit to 6-4.

However it was too little too late for the Lady Vikes as Gunn ran out the clock to take the 6-4 victory at Paly’s home pool.

Despite the tough loss, Wolfe believes the team is progressing in the right direction.

“We have shown much improvement from last year and if we improve our defense we should be fine the rest of the year,” Wolfe said.

Head coach Spencer Dornin echoed Wolfe and was pleased with the girls’ performance in today’s game.

“I’m really proud of the girls, they played real hard but unfortunately, we had a few execution issues that did not go our way,” he said. “We need to build on the fundamentals we have been working on and execute a little better.”

The Lady Vikes will take on Homestead away this Thursday at 6:45.