Boys’ water polo season ends in a close loss at cif
Matthew Flanders / Contributor
The Samo boys’ varsity team are all smiles after placing third in a tournament.
The boys’ water polo team ended their season on Oct. 30 in round 1 of Division II California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) playoffs against Etiwanda High School. On Oct. 22, the team had their last game of the regular season against Malibu High School, which ended with a 12-7 win. They started off their season strong with their opening home game on Aug. 21, against Notre Dame High School, which ended in a 13-6 win.
The final game of the season, against Etiwanda High School, ended in a 10-11 loss. Throughout each quarter neither team was dominating, with the score continuously being tied or up by one point. Despite the loss, the Vikings had some key moments, such as when Aras Gedvila (’26) scored in the last seven seconds of the first quarter.
With an overall record of 21-11 and a league record of 3-4, the team continuously dominated in games. After their sixth home game on Oct. 6 – against Cleveland High School, which resulted in a 17-10 win – head coach Matthew Flanders reflected on the team’s improvement regarding defense and competition.
“We were able to play good defense from the beginning. It was a good step towards qualifying for CIF playoffs,” Flanders said.
The Vikings also faced losses that they were able to learn from. On Oct. 7, Samo played against Redondo Union High School, which ended with a final score of 12-15. The game started as a fair competition, but Redondo was able to get a lead on Samo by the end of the second quarter.
Having lost, members of the team such as captain Luc Garland-Di Stefano (’26) felt discouraged, but were still able to reflect on good moments for the team.
“When we were, you know, actively communicating drive passes around the perimeter and then looking for a set–that worked beautifully,” Garland-Di Stefano said. “We need to rag on each other less, like stop getting down on your teammates and kind of stay as one unit instead of a bunch of individuals, just so we play more cohesively.”
While the boys’ water polo team had significant victories throughout their season, their one point loss to Etiwanda High School ended what looked to be a promising run in CIF.