Finishing out their season full of victory and hard work, the boy’s water polo team ended their season in second place, coming short of Round Rock in their matchups throughout the season. The Warriors played their final games of the season on Friday, Oct. 5 in the district tournament where they went 3-1, only losing their first game to Round Rock.
“It was a tough loss for us,” Captain Ben Meijers ‘25 said. “It was a true fight for all four quarters, and it was a spectacular game all around.”
To start the day off, the Warriors had their hardest battle of the day, their second game against Round Rock. This game determined whether or not the boys would tie for the first-place spot with the Dragons or if they would take second overall.
“Last year, we swept the Dragons and won district, so we were hoping to do that again this year,” Sawyer Grimaldi ‘25 said. “We did lose a close game earlier in the season that we felt we should have won. So coming into the game today, we were pretty confident we could take home another win.”
The game to decide whether the Warriors would take home the gold started poorly, as the Warriors could not seem to find the upper hand. Initially going possession for possession with Round Rock kept both teams at zero until a slip-up from the offense. This vital mistake gave the Dragons the ball and soon their first point. Soon after, another tragic goal from Round Rock put the game 2-0 with the Warriors looking to make a comeback and put the game in reach. Now with a reinvigorated spirit, the Warriors quickly passed around the pool, putting the Dragons in a bad spot and giving the Warriors their first point of the game towards the end of the first quarter. However, the Dragons sped through the Warrior defense and lofted in a final goal with a few moments, putting the score 3-1. Now in a halftime huddle, Head Coach McBrearty hyped up his players, seeing an opportunity to exact their revenge.
“We need to go out there and play the [way] need to play,” Coach McBrearty said. “We’re winning this game and it starts right now.”
Seeing their opportunity to take the lead, the Warriors took the pool once more with renewed confidence. The Warriors began to do just that by continuing their quick passes and pivotal team plays. Soon, this quick play brought the Warriors back in the game, as a goal from Marek Browarski ‘27 with an assist by Jackson Wear ‘28 put the Warriors two points away from the lead. However, the Round Rock defense never seemed to slow down; shortly after, they came back to make it a three-point game once again, ending the half 4-2.
“This type of rivalry game pushes both teams,” Grimaldi said. “This was a little extra motivation, especially since [the game] looked a little dirtier in the pool than outside of it, it was a big game for everyone.”
Now shifting up their playstyle to minimize the Dragons’ efficacy, the Warriors stepped back into a passive set by doubling their defense near the net. However, the Round Rock offense quickly took ground and scored in the first thirty seconds of the half. This failure to defend did not get the boys down as Captain Ben Meijers vengefully banked in another goal to match the Dragons’ pace putting the game 5-3. Despite these efforts, the Warrior offense soon began to falter as this goal was their last of the quarter with nearly three minutes left. In these three minutes, the Dragons solidified their lead with two more goals. But the Warriors gave them no easy points as they held three astute stands before the Dragons could begin to score again.
“A lot of the game had to do with the defense as we left a couple of people open that shouldn’t have been open,” Grimaldi said. “Additionally, on offense, we couldn’t get things going either as [the Dragons] were playing well.”
The fourth quarter was the same story as the third quarter. But this did not get the Warriors down as they continued to score goals in the face of tough adversity. The showdown between the Warriors and Dragons ended 9-4 with neither team letting up until the very end.
“I think that the game honestly just came down to the fundamentals,” Meijers said. “[The Dragons] had both their defense and offense down so well, so it was just tough to find any openings where we could capitalize.”
The rest of the tournament was a very different story, as the Warriors soon dealt with the Midway Panthers 6-3. The Warriors found their groove with their speed and teamwork to continue scoring, eventually capitalizing on minor slip-ups by Midway. The Warriors scored three back-to-back goals in the middle of the third quarter, solidifying their win. However, this game was much closer than the Warriors´ last meeting with Midway where the Warriors won 12-6 in a quick pool-wide domination showing extreme growth and effort by the Panthers that the Warriors saw throughout their match.
“The Midway guys are great, and they have been working hard since we last saw them,” Meijers said. “They gave us good competition, so [we have] nothing but respect for those guys.”
This streak of domination continued into the games against Cedar Ridge and McNeil where the Warriors averaged nine points per game and kept their opponents to three points in each. Finally, in a tiring final game against the Mavericks, the Warriors pushed through their exhaustion, ending the season’s final game 15-3, demonstrating just how the Warriors have played all year. These wins guaranteed the Warrior’s second-place finish, continuing the Warriors’ streak of podium finishes.
Both the men’s and women’s teams advanced to the playoffs this year, they will continue to play their biggest rivals on Thursday, Oct. 10, to continue this streak of excellence.
