The Malibu High varsity girls water polo team won a crucial game on Wednesday against the Carpinteria Warriors, 8-6, and were vaulted into a first-place tie in the Tri-Valley League.
Led by a strong defense, Malibu earned its sixth win in league play. Raine Wilson contributed on the offensive side in a big way, scoring three goals. The win tied Malibu for first in the league with three league games left before CIF playoffs begin.
The Sharks started off strong in the first period, scoring two goals while holding Carpinteria to just one. Both scores for Malibu were made by Christine Karaghossiai and she believed starting off strong “just gets us pumped.”
The Sharks built on their great start in the second, scoring four times. As a whole, Malibu was quite possibly playing their best in the second period, only allowing the Warriors to score once yet again while getting contributions from everyone in the water.
Sara Toussieng, goalie for the Sharks, said it “feels great” when the defense is playing well. At the end of the period, the Sharks found themselves with a commanding 5-2 lead.
After their great start, the third saw a big momentum change for Malibu. Up until this point, it was all Sharks. They kicked off the third period quickly with Murray scoring her second goal of the game.
But after the score, the offense started to turn the ball over while the defense began to breakdown. Carpinteria scored for a third time and then rallied to score two more before the period was over to make it 6-5.Â
Sharks goalie Toussieng didn’t let the rally phase her mindset.
“It’s not the end of the game, I play like it’s 0-0,” Toussieng said.Â
The 4th started off like every other period this game, with the Sharks coming out strong defensively. Malibu scored two insurance goals early to make it 8-5 with Murray capitalizing on her third goal of the game. Carpinteria tried to comeback by scoring late in the 4th to make it 8-6. But nothing else was getting in the goal as the defense shut down the Warriors with Malibu clinging to an 8-6 victory.
Hayden Goldenburg, coach of the Sharks, was happy with the win and believes the “senior leaders stepped up.” With the end of the season in sight, Murray believes Malibu “has a good chance” at clinching the Tri-Valley League title.Â
On Friday, the team plays against Nordhoff and looks to gain sole possession of first place.