Lincoln Tomlinson ’27 prepares to score in the team’s dominant victory over Hopkins.
Boys Water Polo (2-1) started their season off with two strong games against Hopkins and Loomis Chaffee (Loomis), unfortunately falling short against Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter). It was a bounceback start for the team as last year, their record had been less than ideal. Lincoln Tomlinson ’27 shared some of the excitement the team had going into their season opener against Loomis.
“We were all really looking forward to it. We’d been waiting a long time to play real water polo, and we came out aggressive. We were great—taking shots, since everyone’s a shooter, and we were working well as a team. You see a lot of other teams in the league with just one or two players trying to run everything, but we have everyone contributing on offense and defense,” said Tomlinson.
Tomlinson highlighted the details of practice leading up to the first three games, emphasizing team chemistry and in-game scenarios.
“About a week before the games, we established the basics, proper passing form, proper shooting form, all that good stuff. We stopped focusing on fundamentals and really moved into practicing offense and defense. We worked on improving team chemistry, passing the ball around, seeing who’s good at passing back and forth with whom, and figuring out who’s best in each position,” said Tomlinson.
Both games on Saturday were dominant performances for the team. Brandon Xu ’26 highlighted Victor Hillier ’28 as the clear standout player, but Co-Captain Oliver Stabach ’26 and Hugo Appen ’27 also contributed to the game.
“We kind of started slow in the first quarter. Offensively, we were just rushing things a little bit. We made some bad passes, and we couldn’t really find our groove. But later on, we started to find our rhythm, and I think it was Oliver, [who] gave us our first goal. After that, we just ran away with the game,” said Xu.
Exeter has historically been an exciting matchup, especially the first annual matchup before A/E day. Hillier and Appen once again led the team against an Exeter squad that had lost quite a few Seniors.
“It was a very back and forth game. Exeter went up 2-0 early, like in two minutes, but we started to claw our way back. We kept on trading goals back and forth, and obviously, we ultimately lost 13-10. I think we should have won though. It was very possible. Exeter aren’t as strong as they were in previous years, and we really just played very well,” said Co-Captain Ethan Zhu ’26.
Xu spoke more about the flexibility of the team’s playstyle, something they wish to develop more on. The team has half a week until their next matchup against Deerfield and a month and a half until the rematch against Exeter.
“We’re trying to be more flexible on offense and adapting to opponents on defense. We want to be able to adapt to whatever defences might give us. Sometimes, that’s passing around and finding efficient shots, and sometimes that’s just trying to overload their defense with more shots. On defense, we’re pretty good, but we can always improve on being more aware of our surroundings,” said Xu.
Boys Water Polo looks to bounce back at home against Deerfield on Saturday, September 20.
