The Palo Alto boys’ water polo team won handily in its first home game against the Homestead High School Mustangs with a score of 20-13 on Tuesday, Sept. 17.
Paly took control of the game from the start and came out with a commanding 9-4 lead after the first quarter. Junior Ken Wattana led the way with six goals, while senior captain Bobby Abbott added five of his own.
Coming off its exhilarating win in double overtime on Tuesday against home team Monta Vista High School, the Viking defense hoped that it could limit Homestead’s offense to fewer goals. However, the Mustangs scored multiple times in every quarter against the Vikings. Even so, sophomore goalie Daniel Armitano has made a big contribution to the Viking defense in his first year on varsity made numerous counter attack saves, and is stepping up as one of seven underclassmen on the team this year.
“As a team I think we played okay, but this team was not as good as the team that we played two days ago [Monta Vista],” Armitano said. “Everyone [should give] 100 percent during practice and try their hardest so that we can be ready for the rest of the season.”
Homestead senior Sam Hyrne was understandably disappointed by the Mustangs’ loss to Paly.
“We were more well-rested than we were on Tuesday…that’s really all that went well,” Hyrne said.
According to Hyrne, there are still a lot of things that the Homestead team needs to work on for the rest of the season.
“We need a little better ball control and awareness of where we are when we’re on defense,” Hyrne said, “and just a little more experience on the drop because that’s what they were running the whole time.”
Likewise, the boys’ team wasn’t completely satisfied with its performance, according to Abbott.
“[We need to work on] being aware on defense and taking good shots,” Abbott said.
Head coach Giovanni Napolitano knows that Paly has a young team and has some things to work on. Paly faces some tough competition ahead; according to Napolitano, the team’s biggest competition will come on Oct. 6, when the Vikings square off against the Mountain View Spartans.
“Our goal is to develop the young team that we have,” said Napolitano. “We are [still] working on our plays. [We] just need more experience.”
Paly will play two games Friday and two more on Saturday in the Roche Tournament at Menlo. The Paly Vikings’ first game is set for 1 p.m. Friday against the La Jolla Vikings.