Girls waterpolo’s Senior Night began with the nine seniors standing on the edge of the pool, clouded by the steam rising off the water, Feb. 8. Many of the girls have played together for more than half a decade. Each of the nine seniors’ names were announced preceding their united plunge into the water for one of their final games together against the Classical Academy Caimans. The game itself ended with the Wolverines defeating the Caimans, 11-7.
Captain McKenna Ellicott (12) said that throughout this season, especially in preparation for this game, the team has focused on creating an encouraging atmosphere.
“We’ve obviously conditioned and worked hard to get to where we are now, but it’s definitely less punitive [compared to past seasons] and a lot more uplifting in practices,” Ellicott said. “We’re actually working on drills that are making us better as opposed to just conditioning and doing weight belts and swim sets the whole time.”
Wing player Sora Page (12) said she entered the game expecting a relatively straightforward victory since Classical had previously lost 18-2 to San Marcos, a team the Wolverines defeated, 5-4, Dec. 14.
Despite this confidence, after going up 3-0 within the first three minutes of the game, the Wolverines let in one lob goal, followed by a buzzer-beater shot before the change of possession. This was followed by another quick off-the-line goal by the Caimans, which tied the score at 3-3.
The first quarter ended with a penalty shot from Celeste McKercher (10) making the score 4-3..
Ellicott said that the closeness of the game during this quarter was due to a lack of early releases from the field players.
“We just needed to open up a little bit earlier for our goalie so we could get that outlet pass a little bit earlier in the shot clock as opposed to letting it wind down and then losing our time [which gave] us less time to run our motion offense,” Ellicott said.
The team’s motion offense involved a continuous flow of players driving in and out of the center position to confuse and disorient the other team. The style of offense was also meant to help make up for the fact that the Wolverines do not currently have a well-established center player.
The offensive strategy proved successful as the Wolverines went on to a six-goal run at the start of the second quarter. After the first goal of the run, Classical battled for two-and-a-half minutes to try to keep the Wolverines from pulling away. Both teams clawed possession back from each other multiple times before Westview scored another goal to make it 6-3. The next four goals were met with no such resistance.
Caimans capped the run late in the second quarter with another lob shot.
During the half time break, the Wolverines swam a slow 50- yard cool-down, something Ellicott said the team always does in order to calm themselves and refocus on their game.
“In between half, we always swim a 50 freestyle, which is good for people to get out on the field and kind of decompress a little bit,” Ellicott said. “[We] tTake a second to kind of take deep breaths and longer strokes.”
This season, the team has spent extra time learning to refocus when they feel disconnected from the game. Cathartically blowing bubbles in the water when they become frustrated is one of the techniques the team uses to accomplish this.
“I know a lot of people including me, can start to get into their heads if they don’t make a shot or if someone else scores on them,” Ellicott said. “The game is so fast-paced that it’s really [important] to kind of flush it and just go to the next [goal].”
Classical came out strong at the start of the third quarter with a fast-breaking donut shot through the arms of goalie Julia Zajac (11), followed by another goal to make the score 10-6 at the end of the third quarter.
At the start of quarter four, Classical scored again with a long-distance shot from the lower right-wing position.
The Wolverines then ran their off-the-line play named “Yanny.”
The ‘Yanny’ play led to a shot that hit the top bar of the goal post, then went straight down to spin precariously on the edge of the goal line before it was tipped out by the goalie. Page said that the play does not often lead to goals, but is meant to throw the other team out of their natural rhythm.
This turnover preceded another turnover before Classical coach called a timeout with 4:26 left in the quarter and the Wolverines still holding their lead of 10-7.
Classical time-out play was then snuffed out by the Wolverines with a full defense crash onto the Caimans’ center player. In the next possession Page snatched the ball away and drove down to the other side of the pool with a defender on her back. Then she drew a five-meter penalty, which she subsequently missed.
After another turnover, Page caught a quick break away from her defender and was left completely unguarded. She raced up the pool, occasionally looking back for the pass from Zajac. The pass perfectly fell in front of Page as she neared 10 meters from the goal, allowed her to swim right up to Classical goal and throw a barrage of fake shots, with a few lateral slides, before finally draining it far out of the reach of the Caimans’ goalie and ending the game, 11-7.