After a long season for Charter’s boys and girls water polo teams, the boys’ captains: Lucas Porven, Abraham Peñaloza, and Bruno Martins, and the girls’ team captains: Sarah Iturralde, Giada Porven, and Natalia Klatt brought their teams to districts!
The Charter girl’s water polo team ended their season with a 7-10 record. Sophomore Captain Giada Porven made the most goals this season. Leading her team with 59 goals this season. Porven expresses, “I believe this season was a success.”
The boy’s water polo team finished the season off strong with a 9-7 record. Senior Captain Lucas Porven finished the season with the most goals of 73 scored; overall, this sibling duo is unmatched!
For Charter’s star water polo sibling-duo, Giada expresses her gratitude for sharing this experience with her brother by saying, “Especially as [this is] his last year here with me, [it] was very special. We brainstormed and created many plans this season.” Charter has gotten to see them both grow as they both started playing water polo in 6th grade and both became water polo captains in their sophomore years.
Following their successful wins, they had a long road ahead of them for their achievements.
Girls District Semi-Finals: Pines Charter against Cypress Bay
To ascend to the district finals, the girl’s water polo team had to defeat the second-place team in the district to advance.
Tensions arose as both teams prepared for one of their toughest games this season. Earlier in the season the Lady Jags fell short to Cypress Bay in an unfortunate game of 11-9. However, in a tournament hosted by the Forza Stefano club, the Lady Jags were able to defeat them 7-6.
As the game progressed, the score was shifting back and forth between the teams. Going into the 4th quarter, there was a tie between the teams. The game clock struck zero and signaled that the game would have to go into overtime, they knew that the game wasn’t over yet.
The game clock reset to three minutes and whichever team scores first heads into the district finals. With a swift backhand to the goal, Senior Isabella Duran was able to make the last point needed to win the game.
Player of the game, Junior Sarah Iturralde, excitedly comments, “During the Cypress district game, I felt worried at first. We were losing by a couple of goals, and I was scared we would lose. However, my teammates and I pushed through and kept our heads up and scored 10 goals to soon beat Cypress in the end. It was such a good feeling especially since we all played so good that day.”
Girls District Finals: Pines Charter against Cooper City
For years, the boys water polo team had a rivalry with Cooper City. Every game against one another is always one of the biggest games of the season. This year for districts, the Lady Jags had to face this long-time rival.
With a sudden whistle, the game began and Giada Porven was able to swiftly steal the ball in the first swim-off that decided which team got to start on offense first. Following the buzzer sounding off for the end of the second quarter, the game was at halftime, and the Jags were in the lead. Maintaining this close lead until the 3rd quarter. Unfortunately, Cooper City stole the lead from the Jaguars in the 4th quarter and the girl’s water polo team lost District Finals. After a tough season, Sarah Iturralde comments, “This season was very successful even if we didn’t win every game. It felt like almost everyone gave it their all and worked together to push and play our best. We’ve become closer and formed bonds that will make our team chemistry stronger next year.”
Boys District Semi-Finals: Pines Charter against Nova
During their season, the Jags had beaten Nova on several occasions, once during a tournament, a regular scheduled game, and now they were heading up against them for the District Semi-Finals. All of the players were brimming with confidence, ready to play their best.
The game ended with the Jags almost doubling Nova’s score, securing the win they needed to advance to the District Finals. Similarly to the girls, they had to face off against Cooper City.
Boys District Finals: Pines Charter against Cooper City
The biggest match of the season is finally here, Pines Charter against Cooper City. To climb the bracket and make it to regionals, the Jags would have to compete against Cooper City for the regionals spot.
An intense game, with both teams constantly fighting for the lead back and forth each quarter. It was one of the toughest games this season for the Jaguars . Unfortunately in the end the Jags ended up losing 21-12.
With the season coming to an end, this was surely not one to forget. Both the boy’s and girl’s teams worked hard for each of their games. Sophomore Madisen Palmer describes her experience on the team this year saying, “My experience on the water polo team has been amazing. I think this season was a success.” Sophomore Sofia Mejia adds, “I believe this was a successful season on the water polo team, and I can’t wait for another successful season in my upcoming years.”
