The Ripon High Boy’s Water Polo team has had a great season this year. In the VOL they are 6-0 with an overall of 19-12, which leads them to this week’s upcoming match in the San-Joaquin Water Polo Sections. They won their round one game against Woodcreek winning 15-7 and then in Quarter Finals 15-6 against Ponderosa. On Nov. 12 the team will play Lodi in the Semi Finals for a spot to win Sections.
A leading player on the team this year was Senior Matthew Lee. He led with 91 goals, was a team captain, and is ranked 106th in the nation for total goals. Lee shows many aspects of what a leader should be in encouraging his teammates and giving his all to help out the team. He has a positive attitude towards their next few matches and is excited to see how the team plays together in getting ready to play further into Sections.
Lee states, “I’m hoping we can win most importantly, but I just really [want to] see just how we play as a team in preparation for hopefully our next game.”
After losing earlier in the season to Lodi, with the ending score being 6-11, they are now looking forward to the opportunity to play against them again.
Lee states, “…we lost [to] them earlier in the season, so I think that [the] hype [and] motivation from that loss will hopefully fuel the guys to play with some fire.”
Lee is an anchor on the team and brings them together through his positive attitude and spirit. When he is happy and playing at his best it encourages his team to work hard too. He is a role model to his teammates and they think of him as the main contributor who brings the team together.
One of Lee’s teammates and friends, Trevor Bell states “…when he’s positive it’s a lot better because everyone kind of brings each other up.”
Lee stated that he could see himself continuing on in his water polo career because he loves the game and how unique it is and not a lot of people play it which makes it special to him. We wish Matthew Lee and the water polo team good luck as they advance to Division II Sections Championships!
