By TRISTAN MALHOTRA
Sports Editor
Thanks to a game-winning goal by Brad Nunamaker (Jr.) with only 18 seconds left to play, UHS Boys Water Polo secured a 14-13 victory over Serra High School. In a back-and-forth affair, the Trojans opened up their season with impressive scoring efforts from Daniel Campanero (Jr.) and Jacob Ghahremani (Sr.), who scored 7 and 4 goals respectively.
UHS opened the game with a quick start from Ghahremani, who had a hat trick within the first few minutes of play. The team fed off of the early goals and took an 8-7 lead into halftime, but then faltered in the third quarter. Going into the fourth, the Trojans were down 9-10.
In the fourth quarter, UHS reclaimed its early fire. “We started to make steals and score off of counter attacks,” said Ghahremani, “Our coach also had Daniel Campanero and I run an isolation play that really worked.”
Kian Abolhoda (Sr.) said that there was a turning point in the fourth. “We called a timeout and rallied in the last 3 minutes,” he said. “Our coach reminded us what this game meant and that we were the superior team.”
The Trojans took their coach’s words to heart as Benjamin Gomez (Jr.), Campanero and Nunamaker led the game-winning rally.
On the defensive side, Abolhoda and Caleb Brown (Sr.) stepped up, rotating in at goal for the first time in their water polo careers. Abolhoda and Brown had always been field players, but were needed in goal following the departure of the previous Varsity starting goalie, Matt Moran, to Corona Del Mar.
Abolhoda reflected on his performance, “It was a rather drastic change. It can be quite frustrating when I can’t aid my team on offense, but I’m happy to do whatever the team needs of me.”
Regarding the remainder of the season, Ghahremani said, “Our team needs to focus on our passing under pressure and just being confident with the ball. But, I know our team chemistry will guide us to victory.”