The intense preparation and practice of the girls varsity water polo team helped them push their way to an 8-6 victory against Sequoia High School Wednesday night.

“During practice we spent time on the fundamentals of water polo. In close games it comes down to which team will perform better fundamentals,” Coach Bernice O’Connor stated.

Carlmont began the game with possession of the ball, but was not able to score throughout the whole first quarter. Sequoia scored three goals during the last three minutes of the quarter.

O’Connor explained that in “the first half of the game, we were hesitant on offense.”

Both Carlmont and Sequoia scored one point in the second quarter, ending the first half at 4-1 in favor of Sequoia.

Junior Sam King said after the first half, “We knew we could beat them so we came out strong and more aggressive and we worked together to win.”

In the third quarter, with barely a minute left on the clock, junior Kristen Denney assisted junior Elise Dimick. With the help of Denney, Dimick shot the goal that tied the score to 5-5. But later, with seconds left in the quarter, Sequoia scored, and advanced ahead.

In the last quarter, junior Lauren Raccioppi scored a goal and tied up the game.

With a minute left in the game, Denney stole the ball from Sequoia, passed it to Dimick, who scored another goal for Carlmont.

Right wing Chloe Scott said, “We worked hard the past couple of weeks. We’ve been working on defense a lot.”

The victory over Sequoia bumped Carlmont’s record up to 3-3.

Carlmont’s win is crucial, because it will help the team “stay in the hunt for a place in CCS.”

O’Connor plans on addressing why Carlmont started off slow for the past several games, so the team can be prepared for next week’s game against Menlo-Atherton.