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The 2008 high school water polo season begins unlike any other before it. The four defending Central Coast Section championship teams are all from the local area and represent just two schools.

The Sacred Heart Prep and Menlo-Atherton boys and girls own those titles after three of the four captured their first-ever section championships last fall. The SHP boys won their second, their first since 2003.

So, we begin anew as all four head into somewhat uncharted waters sharing the cape of defending champion. The goal is simple: repeat. In the history of CCS, eight boys' teams and just two girls' squads have done that. SHP and M-A are not on that list just yet. But, who knows?

"Hopefully we'll be in that group," said SHP coach Jon Burke.

Menlo-Atherton boys' coach Johnny Bega pretty much feels the same way.

"Our goal is to make it back to the finals of the CIF-CCS Division I (title) match and challenge for the league title again," said Bega. "If we can make it back to the finals, it's all up to our team to how well we can play together."

According to the most recent CCS Coaches Poll, however, only one of the four local squads <0x2014> the No. 1-ranked Sacred Heart Prep girls <0x2014> are regarded highly enough to defend.

That should make for a fun, wide open season, for sure, without anyone truly expected to dominate like the 2007 SHP girls did during their near-perfect 28-1 campaign.

The Gators lost first-team All-Americans Caroline Clark (to UCLA) and Pallavi Menon (to Stanford) plus fourth-team All-American goalie Lindsay Dorst (to Cal). Joining them on the Division I level this spring will be fellow grad Laura Child (UC Davis).

No other girls' team in the CCS, or quite possibly the state, lost so much talent to major universities.

Burke begins his third season, then, without the heavy expectations of last season. Seven seniors are gone and only six varsity players return. Fortunately for Burke, one returnee is senior Yvonne Dunlevie, who earned honorable mention All-American honors last year and likely will move up among the nation's best this season.

Joining Dunlevie will be senior goalie Stephanie Clements, senior defender Mary Jayne Mordell, senior Elizabeth Carey plus juniors Lisa Rennels and Heather Smith. While only Dunlevia, Mordell and Carey saw considerable action last season, the Gators nonetheless are off to a 3-1 start after finishing third at last weekend's St. Francis Autumn Invitational.

"We certainly have some shoes to fill," said Burke, who filled half his roster this season with last season's JV players. "The big theme this season is that we're going to be better every week. We're focused on playing our best water polo in November."

The toughest task, of course, is to defend a championship. All four CCS-winning coaches would be in agreement.

"It's a challenge to defend," Burke said. "But, we're definitely trying to get back to the championship game."

Burke said that each season he lays out goals for the team. In his first season in 2006, the goals were to win the WCAL title and get to the CCS finals. The Gators did. In 2007, it was to win the WCAL and win CCS. They did. This season it's back to the more realistic goals of '06.

"I think it's wide open this year at the Division II level," Burke said. "The competition will be great."

The Sacred Heart Prep boys are in a similar situation after going 26-3 in '07 while winning their first CCS Division II title for coach Brian Kreutzkamp (and the school's second overall). The Gators lost eight players to graduation, including Division I players like Tim Norton (Stanford), and goalie Michael Wishart (Santa Clara).

There's enough returning talent to make another run at the section title, led by returning third-team All-American Paul Rudolph. He's already headed for Stanford next fall.

Rudolph is the go-to player any coach would love to have, they guy who gets the goal when needed. The only problem is, the Gators' opponents know this and Rudolph always draws a lot of attention.

Helping take some of the heat off Rudolph will be seniors Alex Whittam and Hunter Horsley plus juniors Connor Still and David Culpan.

While Sacred Heart did lose a top goalie in Wishart, Ben Dearborn inherits that position and already has proven himself. Dearborn, a junior, was named Most Valuable Player after helping the Stanford Water Polo Club's 16-under team win the National Junior Olympics this summer in Southern California.

At Menlo-Atherton, the boys and girls face a similar challenge of getting back to the CCS finals after winning their first titles in '07.

M-A girls' coach Chris Rubin knows his team won't sneak up on anyone this season and already is trying to put last season's achievement to rest.

"It was a landmark for us," Rubin said. "Now, everyone wants to beat us. Last year we were the underdog."

Rubin isn't chatting up the team's previous exploits. It's over and done with, he says. It's time to start building all over again and see where the season goes.

"The ultimate goal is a second consecutive CCS championship," Rubin admitted. "That's always our goal; win PAL and CCS."

Fortunately for the Bears, who went 21-8 last season, they have the personnel to achieve their goal.

"We have a lot of returning players and we're very junior/senior heavy," Rubin said.

Seniors Morgan Leech, Hannah Breen and Lauren Knox provide leadership while a talented junior class of Rebecca Dorst, Vanessa Lane, Sarah Winters and Anna Geiduschek is very experienced. Sophomore goalie Emily Dorst is back to start her second season with fellow sophomore MJ O'Neill expected to contribute this season.

The Bears (1-0, 4-1) opened their PAL Bay Division season with a 13-6 victory at Burlingame on Wednesday. Becca Dorst scored five goals while Knox and O'Neill scored twice.

The Menlo-Atherton boys (1-0, 4-2) opened their PAL campaign with a 10-7 victory over host Burlingame. Senior Richard Hong scored three goals as did 6-foot-9 junior Jed Springer. Junior Eric Wright added two goals.

Joining that group of returnees will be senior Simon Hood and junior Scott Swartz, both of who saw a lot of minutes a year ago. The top newcomers include freshman Max Wilder, senior Nick Beltramo and sophomore Graham McClelland. Beltramo takes over for graduate goalie Alex Popp and will need to play a key role for the Bears this season.

The Bears went 19-10 a season ago after starting slowly. Similarly, they have lost a lot to graduation and need to rebuild and regroup to challenge the section's best once again.