Acalanes Varsity Mens Water Polo set the pool on fire last Thursday night with a blistering win against the Piedmont Highlanders, chalking up a final score of 17-10. But don’t let the seeming blowout score fool you, this was a hard fought battle with immense skill and aggression churning the water of the Heaston Aquatic Complex into white foam of fury as both teams relentlessly battled for victory.
Senior Isaac Topp brought roars from the crowd and injected adrenaline into his teammates when he scored a goal in the first 30 seconds of the game, and then went on to score two more goals in the first half. Topp was named MaxPreps “Player Of The Game” for not just his 3 total Goals, but also an impressive 5 Assists — meaning Topp directly participated in almost half of all the goals scores that night! — along with 2 Steals.
Sophomore Brecken Roberts braved the Hole, a position of maximum scoring opportunities along with maximum assaults by the opponents, ultimately thwarting the Highlanders bombardment by scoring 5 Goals and nabbing 2 Steals plus 4 Ejections Drawn.
Sophomore Borna Koopah once again proved his all-around aquatic skill with 3 Goals, 3 Assists, 1 Steal, and 2 Ejections Drawn while Junior Charlie “Chuckles” Holmes scored 2 Goals and provided 1 Assist.
The remaining Goals were scored by Junior Max Musch, Sophomore Gunnar Grant, Freshman Dylan “DP” Pierce, and Senior Will Miller — who also contributed an impressive 3 Assists and 1 Steal. Junior Adrian Anderson and Freshman Timothy Ginn also helped bring home the win with Assists, and Freshman Luke Wellen (playing up from the JV Team) grabbed a Steal.
Senior Goalie #1 Fisher Bradford-Urban blocked 4 scoring attempts, while Freshman Goalie #1A Will Aliano blocked 3, both of them aided by strong Dons defensive field play that helped the goalies guard the almost 10 foot wide goal.
The mighty Dons Mens Water Polo Team has been on a upward trajectory for the past 5 years, ever since stability and longevity was brought to the coaching staff by former Head Coach Nick Jordan & Assistant Coach Jake Norton. Jake Norton now leads as Head Coach and is assisted by Kyle Rosenblatt & Connor Mattox, and the three of them have embraced a looser playing style, allowing the Dons to embrace their natural strengths and play through feel and intuition.
The Team’s comfort level and confidence with this change has been apparent the past few games, and truly came to fruition against Piedmont last week.
Their skills will be put to the test at an away game against Campo on Wednesday night, followed by the Alameda 501 Tournament this weekend, and if the Dons put aside all self-doubt and remember Koopa’s quote “if you think the other player is better than you, they have already won”, then they will win not just against the Cougars but against all of the Teams they will face this coming weekend.
FEAR THE BLUE! GO DONS!