The Malibu High School girls water polo team ended its playoff run last week with a loss to Walnut High School in the semifinals, 10-9.
The Sharks entered the playoffs after earning the Tri-Valley League title with a perfect 10-0 league record, and went on to beat Westminster High School, 16-5, and Charter Oak High School, 8-3, in the first and second rounds of the playoffs, respectively.
Malibu faced Walnut on a rainy day at Pepperdine University, and, after Walnut scored first, the Sharks answered back with two goals to take a 2-1 lead at the end of the first quarter. In the second quarter, the two teams combined to score nine goals, and at halftime Walnut had taken the lead, 7-5. Each team scored once in the third quarter, and the Sharks continued to trail by two at the end of the quarter, 8-6.
The Sharks entered the fourth quarter with a vengeance, scoring three straight goals to take the lead with 2 minutes and 22 second remaining. Walnut tied the game up with less than two minutes to play, and the score remained even until Walnut was awarded a 5-meter penalty shot with 35 seconds remaining. Malibu goalie JoJo White finished the game with eight saves, but, unable to block the penalty, Walnut pulled out the hard-fought victory, 10-9.
After fighting for every goal and battling back from a deficit at the start of the fourth quarter, losing on a penalty shot was especially difficult for the Sharks.
“It’s horrible, considering we had the same situation two minutes earlier and [the referees] didn’t call it for us,” Malibu head coach Tim Segesman said. “It’s a horrible way for a ref, with 30 second left, to end a well-played game on such a controversial call. It’s not a call that should be made.”
Nevertheless, Segesman was proud of the effort his team showed to never give up, even when the scoreboard was against them.
“I just said, ‘Don’t leave anything in the pool. You’ve got to give it everything you’ve got,’” Segesman told his team at the end of the third quarter. “And that’s what they did. They went out big in that fourth quarter. The heart and determination of this team was amazing. They just didn’t give up.”
The Sharks saw stellar performances from Devin Dimattia, Sophie Galate and Gianna Fote, who each had two goals, as well from Reilley Lippman, Linda Brown and Jennifer Tartavull, who added one apiece.
Despite the loss, Segesman continues to look ahead and is hopeful that a team that returns Galate, Dimattia, Brown and White can make a run deep into the playoffs next year.
“I see a bright future,” Segesman said. “We’ve got a good group of girls returning. Our goal is to see if we can make it back here again, if not to the finals and win it. We’ve got a group of freshman that has worked hard this year, and with JoJo in the cage, it’s going to be another good year. A lot of work is going to go on, but we should make it.”