The Palo Alto Vikings girls’ varsity water polo team routed the Fremont Firebirds 16-5 Thursday in the first round of the SCVAL team tournament. The Viking offense, which has put up 10 goals or more in each of the last five games, built and kept such a big lead that coach Cory Olcott began lifting starters after the first quarter.
Things started quickly for the Vikings as they strung together a passing drive from a close save by junior goalie Talia Kori. Senior fielder Amanda Wong ended it on a score with 5:33 left in the first. Less than a minute later, Wong made the pass that set up senior fielder Hallie Kennan’s score to put Paly up, 2-0.
Over the next two minutes, Kori made two more saves to produce Viking drives that ended in a pair of scores by senior fielder Jenny Whyte. Wong capped the offensive action with another score in the final seconds of the quarter to make Paly’s lead 6-0.
The Viking defense remained solid even as the offense continued adding to Paly’s lead. Fremont passed the ball into Paly territory and finally got on the board with 5:26 remaining in the second quarter.
But with two steals from senior fielder Allison Feeney, the Vikings foiled consecutive Fremont drives and put up two more goals in less than a minute. A pair of close saves from Kori helped Whyte score again, giving Paly a 9-1 lead going into the half.
“Offense is the last thing that comes together,” Olcott said, “[but] we’ve really worked on staying up and keeping the ball out of the water.”
Paly’s offensive barrage continued through the third quarter, starting with a quick score from junior center forward Madison Hoffacker less than minute into the period. Sophomore fielder Kailey Flather added another score with Paly a man up on the next drive to make the score 11-1.
Sophomore goalie June Afshar took over for Kori and blocked three Fremont shots before senior fielder Amanda Wong scored with 2:03 left in the period. Hoffacker added another score with 1:22 remaining, but Fremont countered with a score in the final seconds of the period, bringing the lead to 13-2.
Paly began the fourth period with scores, but surrendered some of its lead as more of its reserves got playing time. Flather began the period with her third score of the night and sophomore fielder Ali Shorin followed up with her first varsity goal with 5:14 left in the game. After another block from Ash far, sophomore fielder Sarah Martignetti scored Paly’s final goal to make the score 16-2.
“[Moving up to varsity] was a little nerve-wracking,” Shorin said, “but the team really helps you feel good in the water.”
Fremont then rallied for scores on consecutive drives after making a steal and blocking another Viking attempt, making the score 16-4. But the Firebird offense spent most of the final three minutes passing, and managed to put up only one more goal with :31 remaining to make the final score 16-5.
Olcott was proud of the younger players’ contributions but cautioned the team to stay alert through the entire SCVAL tournament.
“We know what they have. We have to make other players beat us, instead of making mistakes,” Olcott said.
The Vikings’ next game in the SCVAL Championships will be 4:20 p.m. Friday at Los Gatos.