On Sept. 17, Menlo girls varsity water polo played Sacred Heart Preparatory, and suffered a heavy loss with a final score of 17-8. 

The starters for the team included freshmen Erica Fenyo and Malia Chavinson, sophomore Rusha Bhat, junior Hope Isaacson and seniors Sophie Golub, Annie Bisconti and Sydney Bianchi. 

It was a slow-scoring start for the Knights. The score was 14-0 before Sophie Golub scored the first three goals. The scorers on Menlo included Alina Hernandez, Erica Fenyo, Annie Bisconti, Rusha Bhat and Motse Contreras with the Knights final goal at 8 to 17.  

The game’s trajectory was not out of the ordinary for Menlo against SHP. “Unfortunately, this is a pretty common outcome for SHP vs. Menlo games. SHP is a powerhouse for both [boys and girls] water polo and have a lot of strong, year round players. However, we could have played a lot better in the first half,” Golub added. 

In discussing game strategy, Fenyo said, “especially in the second half we were looking to help each other and drop back on defense.”  Golub believes future execution can be improved upon. “I think that we could work on playing more help-defense and communicating more on defense and offense. I also think we can play more dynamically overall and cover their top players better,” Golub said. Overall, the Knights have a positive attitude to come back stronger for their next game against SHP.