The Islanders’ first game of water polo league play was a tough early season matchup between last year’s third- and fourth-place state finishers, Mercer Island and Roosevelt. The Roughriders were eager to avenge last season’s state tournament loss to the Islanders and they prevailed with a 7-3 victory.

Roosevelt won the game’s opening sprint, but the Islanders scored first when Ford Witman put one in the net early in the first quarter. Roosevelt answered at 5:07 to tie the game. Jacob Guedel connected with Sammy Vacca on a man-up play for the Islanders to reclaim the lead. Roosevelt’s Conrad Gordon answered immediately, tying the game 2-2, but a skip shot from Witman put the Islanders ahead at the close of the first quarter, 3-2.

The second quarter was a turnover battle with multiple shots barring out for each team. Mercer Island was held scoreless while Roosevelt put one in the net with 37 seconds left in the half to tie the game 3-3 at the break.

The second half was all Roosevelt. The Roughriders scored four goals in the third quarter and three goals in the fourth while the Maroon Squad could not connect. The Islanders fired 15 shots on goal with several man-up opportunities, but ultimately came up empty in the loss. Goalie Hunter Peshkin recorded 11 saves for the game.

“We started off decently,” Mercer Island coach Andrew Smith-Jones said, “but our offense was nonexistent in the second half. We held Roosevelt to under eight goals. We can beat any team if we hold them to less than eight goals like we did tonight if we produce on offense. Tonight was a good learning experience and we can still achieve our goal of winning state. We know where we need to get better.”

The Islanders are now 0-2. Next up is last year’s state champ, Bellevue, at 7:45 p.m. tonight at Mercer Island Country Club. The water polo team’s complete schedule can be found at http://mercerislandwaterpolo.com.