Theo Faugeres ’21 blocked many potential Exeter goals in the team’s defensive end.
This defeat marked the team’s second multiple-overtime loss to Exeter this season, as the team fell 13-14 in quintuple overtime at home on September 18.
Exeter’s aggressive and intense approach to the game, especially by its offense, was difficult to overcome, according to Brandon Garcia PG’20 and Gregor Deveau ’21.
“[Exeter] brought a lot more aggression and intensity to the game, and that hurt us because we weren’t able to fight back and be strong enough with them. It’s tough because you’re having to find the balance of someone grabbing you and scratching you, while you have to keep your composure,” said Garcia.
Deveau added, “Exeter had a good couple of shooters, so we had to make sure that we were blocking them up top but also being able to crash back on hold very quickly as they moved the ball pretty swiftly. So that was something we had to overcome as a team, and we did a really good job of doing that.”
Despite the disappointing loss, the team feels as if the game was one of its best games of the season, and it will positively affect the team’s level of play during playoffs, according to Deveau and Zack Peng ’21.
“Overall, I think it was our best game we played. Although it didn’t end how we would’ve liked it to end, it was a great learning experience, and now we know what we need to do in the next couple of weeks to prepare ourselves for the playoffs,” said Deveau.
Peng wrote in an email to The Phillipian, “I think that today’s game was one of the best representations from this whole season of what this team is really about: teamwork, support, and trust. Today, everyone really stepped up, whether on the bench or in the water.”
According to Deveau, the team showcased cohesiveness and strong communication against Exeter and every member of the team played a role in the game.
Deveau said, “I think this is one of the games where no one really played for all of the team and no one really had a huge impact, we all knew exactly where we were, we were communicating really [well] out there in the pool, and I think we all really contributed really well to the outcome of the game today.”
As the team prepares for its final tournament, known as the Liquid Four, in two weeks, it looks to use the Exeter game as a learning experience. During practices, the team will focus on improving its communication on defense and accuracy of its shots in order to best position itself for its postseason games.
“I think we always have stuff we need to work on, but the main things we should work on are just communicating on defense and being able to be more confident in our abilities and knowing that we don’t always have to shoot swiftly with power, but mostly precision and accuracy. Being able to pick the corner and just shooting it at the goalie will be a very big thing that we will practice,” said Deveau.
The team will play next Saturday at Brunswick for a play-in game in the first round of the Liquid Four league championship tournament.
