On September 20, 2024, the Gray Bee Water Polo team took on a tough opponent in Malvern Prep, in the HAB swimming pool. Malvern Prep came into this match-up with a four-game losing streak. Despite the disappointing loss to Malvern, the Gray Bees maintained great team spirit, and desire to work on their errors for upcoming opponents.
Malvern made their presence felt by dominating every aspect of the game in the first quarter. The Gray Bees struggled severely with turnovers, and Malvern capitalized off those errors with multiple fastbreak goals. Gray Bees had some critical missed shots which would have kept them within reach. Gray Bees captain Jonathan Martinez ’25 produced the biggest play for the Gray Bees in the first quarter with an absolutely amazing goal. The Gray Bees looked to continue to build on that goal from Martinez but weren’t able to as Malvern played smothering defense for the remainder of the first quarter which ended in the score of 5-1.
The Gray Bees continued to struggle defensively in the 2nd quarter, as Malvern began to pick up the pace. Even though the Gray Bees weren’t playing their best they still managed to encourage each other, and that encouragement had an effect, as Junior goalie Caleb Torres ’26 began to make impressive saves. Malvern was clicking on all cylinders applying more pressure to the Gray Bees’s offensive strategies which wasn’t working as Malvern shut out the Gray Bees in the second quarter with a score of 12-1.
Coach Jasbon, must have had an inspiring speech during the halftime break because the Gray Bees looked like a new team. Malvern began to turn over the ball due to the physical Gray Bee defense. Martinez was the first to strike gold for the Gray Bees in the third with an extraordinary skip shot goal, and that was followed by Liam Vertreese ‘25 with a self-rebound goal, and JP Martinko ’26 had an amazing steal which landed into the hands of Vertreese, and he followed up this fast break with an alley-oop pass to Anthony Isin ‘25 which resulted in a goal. Also, goalie Torres ’26 had an outstanding third-quarter performance for the Gray Bees making quality saves. Although Malvern was still up in this game, the Gray Bees dominated this quarter 4-1.
In the fourth quarter, the pace of the game slowed down as the Gray Bees were trying to reignite the flames that they previously had in the third quarter but they weren’t able to. Malvern was given a penalty but Caleb Torres ’26 was able to hunt it down for the save. They still were able to score three goals in the last couple of minutes to seal the win. Despite the 16-4 loss the Gray Bees kept their head up high, well they continue to improve on their mistakes and strive to have games like they did in the third quarter.
After the game, I caught up with Gray Bee Captain, Ismael Rivera ’25. Ismael spoke about the Gray Bees’ struggles, and what they will need to work on to improve their performance, he said “I’d say we struggle with tactics, a lot of tactics, passing, and driving. We need to communicate more. Communication is a big part, we have the bond, we just need to communicate more.”
The Gray Bees are striving to keep up the motivation for the remainder of the season and look to improve upon their errors. The future’s looking bright for the Gray Bee Water Polo as they have multiple young stars who should make a name for themselves in the coming years.
The Gray Bees will be returning to the pool on Wednesday, September 25, 2024, at 4:00 pm at The Lawrenceville School.
