Dami Kim, culture editor

The boys waterpolo team suffered an 18-3 loss in its first round of CIF Division 4 against Righetti High School at an away game on Nov.13. Though the team managed to compete against a high school team that was seeded third in the division, the team struggled in the beginning of the game.

“Although the other team was by far the strongest team that we have played all season, we struggled to come out with enough intensity from the beginning,” senior goalkeeper Hans Tercek said. “We were having a hard time moving the ball around on offense, [due to] heavy pressure from [Righetti’s] defense.”

According to Tercek, the first quarter was rough, though it began with a block and later a five meter penalty save by Tercek. The team had to compensate for two starters, senior driver/attacker David Kotlarenko and junior driver/setter Michael Nassirzadeh, who were majored in the first half and ejected out of the game.

“There were some complications so the team didn’t perform as well as we could have,” Kotlarenko said. “But we did try to push ourselves.”

However, Righetti led the game 14-0 until the third quarter, when junior utility Justin Shegerian scored the team’s first point. In the fourth quarter, freshman goalie Jordan Friedman and Kevin Solemani were subbed in, respectively. Senior drive Mason Segal and junior drive Joe Maisterra scored two additional points while Righetti scored four more points. When the final whistle blew, the score was 18-3.

“I believe we only had 13 goal attempts for the entire game with only three resulting in actual goals,” Tercek said. “It was a rough end to an overall decent season.”

The team finished the season with a 5-3 league record.