Lauren Hannani staff writer
The girls varsity water polo team lost to the Torrance Tartars 3-13 in their third league game on Thursday, Jan. 19, giving Beverly an overall league record of 0-3.
The Normans feel they need to work on defense for their upcoming games.
“Today was not our best day regarding defense. We got the ball stolen from us many times, which caused a lot of counterattacks. Most of our goals were made from penalty shots,” senior co-captain Rubini Korasidis said. “I think if we work on controlling the ball and not losing it, the score difference wouldn’t be as big.”
The team did not score any points in the first quarter, ending the quarter with a score of 0-3. However, sophomore player Jean Park did score a point for the team in the second quarter. Although the team struggled to score points throughout the game, the Tartars are not their biggest competition.
“The last game we played against [Torrance], the score was 7-8. We lost, but only by a one- point difference,” Korasidis said. “We usually play much better against them. They aren’t our toughest rivals in terms of skill…we are about the same.”
The Normans also have less senior players than last year, which has affected their ability to score as many goals as they did in previous years.
“Last year, our team was only juniors and seniors, and we were very successful. However, this year, the majority of our varsity [team] is sophomores and freshmen who have been forced to adjust to varsity games,” senior co-captain Hannah Knecht said.
Knecht scored two goals for the Normans, one in the third quarter and one in the fourth.  
“The other team was playing very dirty, so that opened up an opportunity for many penalty shots, which I thankfully made,” she said.
Their next home game is on Jan. 23 against Culver City.  
“I think it would help if our team started focusing more during practice, and really solidifying our command of the rules and tricks of the game,” Knecht said. “I’m looking forward to becoming more cohesive as a team and really playing as hard as we can.”