The Palo Alto Vikings girls varsity water polo team lost 9-5 to the Mitty Monarchs Saturday afternoon to claim 6th place NorCal Championships. The Vikings almost matched Mitty’s offense in the first two quarters but allowed Mitty to build a lead on several unanswered second half goals.

Paly (6-5) used a steal by senior fielder Amanda Wong and a save by senior goalie Talia Kori to quickly put together three drives into Mitty territory, but failed to score on any of them. After the Vikings’ third attempt to score, Mitty stole the ball and drove through the Paly defense before scoring on a skip shot with 3:17 left in the first quarter. Palo Alto continued to struggle on offense with scoring as it had another shot blocked before Mitty again took the ball and cashed in on a single pass to make its lead 2-0.

After each goalie made another save, the Vikings fought through an aggressive Mitty defense and netted a five-meter penalty for a goal. Wong scored on the free shot with under a minute remaining in the period, but Mitty responded on the following drive to end the first quarter with a 3-1 lead.

“Mitty played really well,” Palo Alto coach Cory Olcott said. “we just didn’t put our shots away”

Paly started the second quarter with another blocked shot but this time senior fielder Christy Campbell ended Mitty’s drive with a steal. She passed to junior fielder Tara Murao who scored with 3:56 left in the period. Then Mitty countered with a goal of its own less than a minute later to maintain a 4-2 lead.

Senior fielder Allison Feeney made a steal with 1:29 remaining in the half and drove the ball all the way through the Mitty defense and outstretched arms of its goalie to pull the Vikings within one at halftime.

Paly won the third quarter sprint only to see its opening second half drive end in another shot block. Mitty quickly drove the ball the other way, scoring less than a minute into the half to make its lead 5-3.

Wong helped the Vikings respond by passing to senior fielder Lizzie Abbott who scored with 3:51 remaining in the third.

On the following series, Mitty made two quick passes and surprised the Paly defense with a lob shot score to stretch their lead to 6-4.

“Our anticipation skills are still coming along,” Olcott said.

The Vikings failed to respond offensively as Mitty controlled the rest of the quarter, and deflected several Paly shots, scoring again with 1:23 left in the period to take a three-goal lead.

Mitty won the neutral throw to start the fourth quarter, using it to add another goal seconds into the period. The Vikings’ Kori made three more saves before Mitty scored its final goal for a 9-4 lead with 2:41 left in the game.

Paly made an offensive charge in the game’s final minute, with senior fielder Hallie Kennan adding a goal, but ended the game with a loss 9-5.

Earlier in the day, Paly beat the Miramonte Matadors 5-0 to set up its match against Mitty. The Vikings finished with a 3-2 record in the 16-team NorCal tournament.

“We’ve got plenty of time [left in the season],” Olcott said. “We just have to work on working as a team,”

The Vikings’ next game will be at home against the Los Altos Eagles 3 p.m. Monday in Paly’s first game of Santa Clara Valley Athletic League play.