The San Diego Mesa College female water polo team played against the Grossmont Griffins on Sept 14, but lost 5-2 to conference champions at home.
After a 19-5 record from the previous year and losing all but two players, the team has a lot of work ahead of them.
“We played a really good game. We are really young and inexperienced and we made a million mistakes. But when you play the conference champs and are able to score against them it’s really spectacular. We definitely have potential in the future.” Head Coach Jim Fegan said.
After gaining first possession in the first quarter Mesa tried to score but Grossmont’s defense would not let up. The back and forth ball movement lasted only minutes before Grossmont Griffin’s own Madison Boehrig maneuvered past Mesa’s goalie, freshman Ashlee Smith for the first game point.
The Griffins didn’t stop there with the assault. They were constantly on point with being close to the ball whenever possible capturing loose balls and penetrating through the Olympian defense. Many fouls were call against Grossmont, but they still managed to drown Mesa.
Following on Boehrig’s example, fellow Griffins Whitney Sammons and River Croteau-Hanson got passed Smith giving Grossmont a 3-0 lead by the half. The Lady Olympians were still determined to continue on despite the deficit. After a half time talk with Coach Jim Fegan, they were determined not to go down without a fight.
After another ragged six minutes and fifteen seconds, freshman Alina Duran stole the ball and passed to sophomore Mojgan Malekpour to score the first point for the Lady Olympians. The Griffins responded with Boehrig scoring another point soon after.
A deliberate foul caused by a rough play dead locked the crowd as Mesa faced another obstacle- another score by Grossmont.
Entering into the 4th quarter, the rampage continued as the constant battle of possession took place. Eventually, Mesa’s freshman Alex Barney scored the second point for the team, while Grossmont’s Croteau-Hanson scored the fifth point for the Griffins. The game ends and our Olympians were defeated.
With 18 women on the squad, 16 of which are freshman, they are willing to continue to grow more as a unit and look at each match they compete in as a learning experience. With more time and a little more practice, The Mesa Girl’s water polo team will strike back with a vengeance in the near future soon enough.