Greenwich High School’s girls water polo team has started a new streak.

After seeing their 51-game winning streak come to an end with a tight 12-11 loss to Greenwich Aquatics earlier this week, the Cardinals began, what they hope, is another long success steak on April 22 when they hosted neighborhood opponent Greenwich Academy.

Receiving goals from nine players, Greenwich got right back on the winning track, defeating a young Greenwich Academy squad, 22-13, at GHS.

The victory upped the Cardinals’ record to 5-1 – Greenwich visited Hopkins School in New Haven today (April 23). Greenwich Academy’s record was 4-4 heading into today’s matchup against rival Sacred Heart Greenwich. For the Cardinals, junior captain Julia Gustafsson scored a team-high six goals to power the offense versus the Gators.

Gustafsson is pleased with the progress and improvement everyone on the team has displayed.

“I think we’re doing really good, we have a lot of new girls, so I think that a lot of people that are inexperienced, but having them practice and play, they have gotten a lot better,” said Gustafsson, the Cardinals’ leading scorer. “They have adapted to water polo, which is a tough sport, so I think that practicing and having as many games as we’ve had – they’ve definitely gotten a lot better.”

Kaleigh Murphy recorded three goals and three assists, Ainsley Sahrbeck had a hat trick, Hanna Flakstad tallied two goals and two assists and Addie Shaw also scored twice with two assists to also propel the Cards’ offensive attack.

“Yesterday (Monday, April 21), we had our first loss in a while playing Greenwich Aquatics, today was better, offensively, we shared the ball a lot and had nine different goal scorers,” GHS coach Jimmy Ramaley noted.

Anna Whitridge tallied twice, Ava Mendelsohn had one goal and one assist and Shea Morris added a goal for the victors. Junior captain Norah Mendelsohn made eight saves during her two quarters of action in goal for the hosts. Gustafsson and Murphy played one quarter each in goal, making two and five saves, respectively.

Greenwich Academy’s offense was sparked by senior captain Rory Keller and freshman Teodora Diaconu.

“This is a fairly new team and we’re working hard at playing with fundamentals with a lot of new players,” said Greenwich Academy first-year coach Daniela Screnci, a Greenwich High School graduate who excelled on the water polo team during her playing days at Greenwich High. “It’s really special watching the team come together from the start of the season until now. The last time we played GHS, there was a far greater score differential. Playing them again now shows the improvement from the beginning of the season until now.”

“It feels great, it’s nice to connect with the girls,” Screnci said of taking over the helm at GA. “It’s an honor for me to get to coach at Greenwich Academy.”

Salma Thomas is also a senior captain for Greenwich Academy.

“Our offense was working really well,” Screnci said. “The passing, our shooting, we were taking advantage of the opportunities that we had. Everyone got to show their skills. They were a little timid at the end of the game and they finished strong on offense and defense.”

“Rory (Keller) led us in scoring today. She kept her composure and helped the girls stay positive. Even though we lost, we learned a lot about our offense and defense, so I’m proud.”

As always, the Cardinals offense clicked, as they exhibited strong passing and on-the-mark shooting.

“It was a good time in there,” Norah Mendelsohn said. “We had an April break and it’s good to get back into it. We have a lot of games this week, so it’s good experience. I think we did a good job in there. We improved on our defense a little bit and on offense, our movement was pretty good.”

“We like to get all the girls in there, making sure everyone gets a chance to shine,” Mendelsohn continued. “A big part of what we like to do is we want everyone in there having a good time and for everyone to get an equal amount of experience.”

“Our offense was very good, we scored a lot of goals so it was good,” Gustafsson said. “This year, we want to build up our team for next year too.”