The Palo Alto Vikings girls’ varsity water polo team lost 11-8 to the Los Altos Eagles in overtime Monday in its first match in Santa Clara Valley Athletic League play. The Vikings quickly built a lead early in the game, but let the win slip away, giving up streaks of unanswered goals.

The Vikings dominated the first quarter, led by senior fielder Christy Campbell and senior goalie Talia Kori. From the opening sprint, Paly kept the ball close to the Los Altos cage with efficient passing. When Campbell got the ball, she took several shots. She scored on consecutive Viking drives to put Paly up 2-0 less than one minute into the game. She added another score with two minutes left in the first quarter to put Paly up by three goals.

Kori helped Paly keep the lead by making four saves in the period, consistently deflecting the close shots Los Altos was able to take when it could maintain possession. Junior fielder Tara Murao also helped out defensively, making the steal that set up Campbell’s third score.

“Paly took on six tough teams at [the NorCal Championships],” said Los Altos coach Andrew Maisel. “so they’re a very good team”

But after Los Altos called a timeout to change goalies, Paly’s momentum slowed as they turned the ball over twice, allowing Los Altos’ to get on the board with :24 seconds left in the first period.

Paly’s defensive problems only escalated in the second quarter. Though Campbell scored her fourth goal of the day midway through the period, Los Altos countered on the following drive to make the score 4-2. A Los Altos steal and an offensive penalty foiled two consecutive Paly drives and allowed the Eagles to score twice more by passing through the Paly defense and tie the game with 2:35 left in the half.

“I just told them ‘you need to focus on the basics and the shots will start falling'” Maisel said.

Another Viking turnover allowed Los Altos to take a 5-4 lead less than a minute later, but Viking senior fielder Lizzie Abbott answered the four consecutive Los Altos goals with her first score in the quarter’s final seconds to tie the game 5-5.

The Vikings spent the second half trying to stay even with the Los Altos offense. Paly senior fielder Amanda Wong scored in the first minute of the third quarter, but Los Altos countered with two goals, netting a free shot on a five-meter penalty to score the latter goal and take a 7-6 lead.

Abbott and Murao supplied Paly’s offense for the rest of regulation, with each scoring in the final two minutes of the third period to give Paly another lead, 8-7.

But Paly again failed to hold its advantage, giving up the tying goal with 4:42 left in the fourth quarter to send the game into two periods of overtime.

The Eagles’ barrage continued in the extra play as it added two more goals during the first three-minute period to take a 10-8 lead.

Los Altos put the game out of Paly’s reach by adding another score in the final minute of the second overtime period. The Vikings’ Abbott was able to put score again on the final drive with a pass from Wong, but that only cut the Los Altos lead to 11-9 as time expired in the final period.

The Vikings’ next game will be against the Gunn Titans 5:00 P.M. Wednesday at Gunn, followed by the JV girls game at 6:00 P.M.