Andover/Deerfield (Saturday 4/4): W 14-8, Andover/Exeter (Wednesday 4/8): W 16-10
Girls Water Polo (4-0) defeated Deerfield 14-8 on Saturday and came back from an early deficit to beat Phillips Exeter Academy (Exeter) 16-12 on Wednesday. Despite playing only away games so far this season, the team’s adaptability has carried it through its first four games.
After beating Hopkins and Williston Northampton (Williston) by a combined 27–5, the team faced its first major challenge against Deerfield. Camden Schopler ’27 highlighted the team’s composure and ability to adjust.
“Deerfield was a tougher team than our previous two games, and everybody held it together and kept adapting throughout the game. The adaptation is what really led us to win the game,” said Schopler.
The team also faced adversity with injuries. Schopler pointed to Audrey Baeten-Ruffo ’28 and Helen McNeely ’29 for stepping up to assume the goalie position.
“Two people really stood out to me. One was Audrey, who isn’t our starting goalie, but our starting goalie had a concussion. So she went in, despite having an injured ankle. And she had to get out throughout the game because it hurt a lot, and we had somebody who had never played goalie before, Helen, who’s a freshman, and she got in, and she also did a great job in goal and let in 0 shots,” said Schopler.
Mary Li ’29 described the team’s performance throughout the game and how its strategy changed.
“We did very well in the first and second quarters. In the third quarter, we started falling apart a little. I was getting much more nervous because the other team’s scores were stacking up… but then we had a change of strategy, and we kept changing it to adapt to the situation,” said Li.
The team took a timeout to calibrate and reset after Deerfield gained some momentum, which proved successful. Li highlighted that moment as particularly memorable.
“Right after that timeout, we started to adjust to what the other team was doing. We started pressing up more. We also helped much more and strengthened our defense. We adapted, and it turned out really well for us,” said Li.
Djenabou Bah ’28 shared her favorite moment of the game against Exeter, another pivotal timeout.
“Even though we weren’t actually playing, it was a good strategy, and once that timeout happened, everyone went and did what they were supposed to. You could see the difference in our strategy right after,” said Bah.
Bah described how the team’s performance affected the rest of the season and clinched its spot in the NEPSAC Tournament.
“This game specifically helped because we have seven schools we go against for the whole league, and this was the fourth match we won… So this game puts us automatically in the NEPSAC Tournament. So that was really good. And the team is really happy about that,” said Bah.
Girls Water Polo will face Williston on Saturday, April 25.
