The Palo Alto High School Varsity Water Polo team lost to the Saint Francis Lancers 13-6 at home.

The Vikings had a rocky start, conceding twice in the first few minutes and another one later in the quarter. But the Vikings hung tight, with goals from Javid Alasti (‘19) and Bryan Look (‘18), making it 3-2 before the first break.

Throughout the second quarter, Saint Francis pulled away, scoring five unanswered goals to make it 8-2 at the half.

Goalie Ben Rapperport (‘19) thought that the conditioning and speed of  his teammates wasn’t what let them down defensively.

“It was really mainly lack of communication because we know they’re a fast team and we just had to realize that when we see one of them leaving, we can’t just watch, we actually have to go with them,” Rapperport said.

Captain Jack Andersen (‘18) scored two out of the Vikings’ four goals in the second half. Saint Francis outscored the Vikings 5-4 in the second half, with the final score 13-6.

Andersen (‘18) thought that the team played well despite having very few varsity players returning.

“We have a lot of new players, so we need those new players practiced so they can get better ball handling. We just need to get our team chemistry up,” Andersen said.

The Vikings’ next game is at home against Los Gatos, on Tuesday, September 12.