By Cate Meister
Fountain Valley High School’s (FVHS) girls’ water polo team lost in Division V CIF-SS quarterfinals against JSerra Catholic High School (JSerra) on Saturday with a score of 4-8.
“[The team] played great,” head coach Kyle Adama said. “They fought all the way the entire game, didn’t give up, came through a lot of unfortunate situations and didn’t hang their heads on it.”
The game started out tightly matched, but the Lions beat the Barons to the first goal of the game. After an ejection left FVHS short of a player, JSerra scored. Junior Megan Lundquist, the team’s goalie, blocked a shot close to the goal shortly after, but the referees called a foul that gave JSerra a penalty shot, bringing the score to 0-2.
As the clock was ticking down to the end of the first quarter, sophomore Jessica Jang took a shot from the far right, scoring the Barons’ first goal of the game. JSerra attempted to score again but was blocked by Lundquist just before the time ran out, ending the quarter 1-2.
Going into the second quarter, the Barons were mainly on the defensive with Lundquist being at the forefront as the goalie. Nevertheless, the Barons kept up a strong defense and deflected many of JSerra’s shots. Lundquist’s early saves coupled with offensive drives from Jang, senior Grayce Sakamoto and freshman Kalia Wesley kept the game close.
Jang tied the game with a second goal after a corner throw from Wesley with a low shot skidding into the right corner of the goal. After a series of close shots by the Barons without scoring, JSerra took a shot close to the goal to bring the score to 2-3.
Jang was ejected at the end of the quarter, leaving the Barons down a player at the start of the second half. After JSerra called a timeout to position themselves for an offensive play while FVHS was still missing a player, Jang’s ejection time ran out, allowing her to spring towards the ball for a turnover.
Later on, a foul resulted in another penalty, allowing JSerra to score for a 2-4 deficit.
After Lundquist blocked a shot by JSerra, she passed the ball up to Wesley, who took a far shot to score the Barons’ third goal. However, another penalty shot allowed JSerra to score again, returning them their two-point lead.
JSerra scored again at the beginning of the fourth quarter. Two more penalties allowed JSerra to bring the score to 3-8. Three FVHS players had also been permanently ejected (or “rolled”) by the end of the game.
Finally, after Wesley rebounded a deflected shot, she scored, ending the game with a score of 4-8.
“The girls are great. They’ve accomplished something that [we] haven’t done in a really long time, and they should be proud of themselves,” Adama said.
