Winning has been scarce for this year’s Fresno City College women’s water polo team. Under new head coach Gianna Rossi, the team currently holds a record of 2-15. The Rams’ two wins came against Sacramento City College early in the season and against Laney College in their latest game.

The Rams hosted American River College on Oct. 10 and lost 14-5. Freshman Marissa Vargas led the Rams with three goals in that match while Kellie Flores and Ashley Lucas scored one goal each. After the loss, Rossi remained optimistic as she had all been all season long.

“Even though we lost, we played really well. Our movement on offense was good. We executed very well. It was a solid game even though the score didn’t reflect that,” said Rossi. “It was our best played game. We are moving forward as a team.”

Following the resignation of Janell Odom, Rossi took over and became the second head coach of the Rams’ water polo team. Rossi comes to FCC with plenty of water polo experience. As a division I player at UC Irvine, Rossi held a school record with 64 goals and was named Big West Player of the Year. She graduated in 2009 with a bachelor’s degree in Social Ecology and a minor in Education. Coming into this season, Rossi wasn’t sure what to expect.

“I expected challenges but I didn’t know what challenges to expect,” said Rossi. “Next year we will be better because we know the challenges. And we have changed our offense from the beginning of the season. We had a standard offense. We had one player in the middle.”

And on a team with just two sophomores, Rossi believes there is plenty of potential for growth. One area of the team that she wants to see improve is the passing game.

“The biggest thing we could improve is our passing. We need to learn how to pass under pressure,” said Rossi.

Although the hopes of a conference title have slipped away at this point, Rossi is pushing her team to win as many games as possible.

“We want to win games and rank as high as we can,” she said.

Water polo began at FCC in 2003. The team’s last winning record in the overall standings was in 2008 with a record 22-4. The Rams also had a solid season in 2006 when they placed third in the Big 7 conference, second at Nor-Cals and fourth in the state.