Paly Girls Water Polo handily defeated Los Gatos 14-6 on Tuesday, October 15 in the second matchup with the Cats. The team now stands in first place in the league after previously being in a three-way tie.

“Beating Gatos, especially by a lot, was definitely big for us because they had been a strong team in the past,” junior Grace Henderson said. “We still have some work to do, but it is looking great.”

As the season kicked off, Paly Girls Water Polo was consistently strong in every matchup, dominating in almost every game. But as the season progressed, the team had to overcome the challenge of losing key players to injury. Despite that, the team powered through, adjusting together and continuing high intensity, especially evident in their recent game against Los Gatos.

“One of the biggest challenges was keeping up motivation and mentality,” sophomore Sabrina Meyers said.

The game began with a bang in the first quarter. Defensively, Paly was able to shut out Gatos the entire quarter. Offensively, the team was able to put up four goals, giving them an early lead. Going into the second quarter, Los Gatos retaliated, scoring 3 goals on Paly. Despite this effort, Paly still scored 2 more goals, maintaining a 6-3 lead to end the first half.

For the rest of the game, the Vikings were able to keep consistent offense, scoring 4 goals in both the 3rd and 4th quarter.

“Our team was able to convert really well from offense to defense,” senior Katie Spitzer said. “Our energy was really good and we worked well.”