The Paly varsity girls water polo team placed 5th in the Saint Francis tournament on Friday. The Vikes started off well by beating Marin Catholic 7-2. Marin was overwhelmed by Paly’s strong defense and had many turnovers due to shot clock violations. Junior Remy Champion led the team with three goals followed by Brittany Webster who had two goals.
Although the Vikes won by a margin of five goals, they didn’t show their full potential as a team. Coach Steve Covec commented, "Our defense was not bad, but we need to work on our counter attacks. Only some people had a good game, but we need to have everyone have a good game."

Paly looked to improve in their second round game against Saint Francis. Coach Covec commented before the game, "Saint Francis is the defending CCS champs, but I think we are a better team overall. We are more experienced, faster, and more fundamentally sound than them."

Paly played a far better game against Saint Francis than they did against Marin Catholic, but lost to the Lancers 11-8. The Vikes came closer than any other team in the tournament to beating Saint Francis. However, a strong Lancer offense paired with an impenetrable defense overpowered the Vikes even though Paly played one of their strongest games so far this year.

Paly was neck and neck with the Lancers throughout the game. Remy Champion scored the first goal of the game putting Paly on top. Well-developed attacks and strong defense from both sides ended the quarter 2-1, with Saint Francis leading. Goals from sophomore Phoebe Champion, and juniors Webster, and Remy Champion in the second quarter made it 6-5, with Paly trailing at the half.

In the third quarter, both teams had strategic counter attacks and efficient defenses, and only allowed each other to score two goals apiece. Paly’s goals came from Webster, and senior Jennie Smith. The Lancers continued to attack well in the fourth quarter, but Paly goalie senior Jillian Rubinstein made numerous blocks. After Saint Francis put in three goals, R. Champion respond with her fifth goal of the game, but it was not enough to give Paly the win. Although both teams appeared to be equally matched, the Lancers won 11-8.

Webster, who had two goals in the game remarked on the Vikes play, "We were more aggressive and had a lot more urgency than in our game against Marin Catholic, which was good. I’m happy about how we played even though we lost."

Paly’s next game was against Menlo, a skilled team the Vikings had beat the week before in the Dennis Fosdick Peninsula Challenge. Paly started off with an early goal by R. Champion, and following soon after, Menlo returned to tie the game at one a piece. The score was close thoughout the game with Paly scoring a goal to get ahead and Menlo coming right back to tie it. There were no goals in the second quarter even though Paly had multiple opportunities and took many shots.

The teams went into the third quarter with a score of 3-2 in favor of the Vikes, but Menlo promptly came back to make it a tie. Both teams missed many opportunities throughout the second half, resulting in unnecessary turnovers. The fourth quarter consisted of two goals apiece for both Menlo and Paly, and ended in a missed Paly shot at the buzzer, sending the game into sudden-death overtime.

Menlo won the game in a short overtime, firing a shot into the top right corner of the goal, making the final score 6-5.

Paly then went on to defeat Soquel 7-3 to finish off the tournament with a rank of 5th place overall. Senior goalie Erica Magill, reflecting on the team’s play said, "Overall, I think we played really well as a team. We knew it was a tough tournament going into it, but we came together really well. It was a rough loss against Menlo, but we look forward to playing them again in the Sacred Heard Tournament."

Look forward to Paly’s first league game on Oct. 1 were they will host Gunn at 3:00.