The Palo Alto High School girls’ water polo team (9-10, 5-4) failed to stop offensive powerhouse Los Altos High School in a 12-5 Santa Clara Valley Athletic League match Wednesday at Paly.

The Vikings were unable to answer the Eagles’ strong offensive presence, allowing three goals in the first quarter while scoring none. Los Altos’ first goal came from within two meters of the cage, while the other two were scored from outside five meters.

Paly senior hole-set Anna Glaves attributes the variety of goals to Los Altos’ ability to shoot accurately on the cage from far away.

“They are really good outside shooters,” Glaves said. “They got off a lot of outside shots.”

With a confident attitude the Palo Alto players entered the game ready to win, but they were unable to transfer the mood to the field of play, senior utility Rachel Harrus said.

“We came into the game with a lot of intensity,” Harrus said. “We just could not convert that into the game.”

Junior driver Shannon Scheel elaborated on this confidence prior to the game.

“We plan to execute our offense consistently throughout the game and come out hard and score first,” Scheel said. “That will get them rattled and enable us to bring it home.”

The Vikings could not to execute their offense, leading to a number of short possessions after the quarter break. This lack of offensive pacing led to Palo Alto suffering another three goals from Los Altos. The Vikings responded with a goal from sophomore hole-set Martine Leclerc.

Following halftime, Los Altos made a series of substitutions, taking out top scorer junior driver Katie Schaffer, who had three goals in the contest. Taking advantage of a new burst of energy and Los Altos’ weak defensive line, the Vikings scored two goals: one from Glaves and another from senior driver Haley Conner. However, the team still could not stop Los Altos’ offensive progress, as the Eagles scored four more goals.

“We did not really pick up until the third quarter, when we started countering and picking up our speed,” Glaves said. “We really wanted to beat them but once we got down a few goals we fell apart.”

In the fourth quarter, the Vikings scored two goals while holding Los Altos to two goals. Despite losing, the Vikings now know what they need to work on to improve, Harrus said.

“We need to be more aware,” Harrus said. “We need to foul harder and help out more on defense.”

The Vikings play Monta Vista High School at 6:45 p.m., tomorrow at Monta Vista.