Publication Date: Wednesday, September 28, 2005
GIRLS' WATER POLO
It's a feeling
It's a feeling
(September 28, 2005)of family
for SHP coach
Samuels not only likes
his team, but its
role in a special year
This is the fifth in a series of stories previewing the high school fall sports season. Today: girls' water polo.
by Keith Peters
Ed Samuels could have walked away from coaching the Sacred Heart Prep girls' water polo team after his daughter, Bailey, graduated. That was two years ago.
"I reflected on it," Samuels said. But he didn't act on it. "It wasn't about coaching. I realized I would miss their company."
Samuels sees the SHP girls' team as an extension of his own family, which is appropriate since daughter, Bailey, and son, Jon, wore the Gators' colors. Another son, Elliott, is currently a sophomore starter on the boys' team.
Aside from that connection, there are two other reasons why Ed continues to guide the fortunes of the girls' team.
"This is the first group I've had from beginning to end," he said. "And, there's an extraordinary period in water polo right now."
For the first time ever, four local teams - Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo, Palo Alto and Menlo-Atherton - rank among the top 10 in Northern California. All four have risen to the top of the Central Coast Section with Palo Alto, SHP and Menlo-Atherton all holding wins over four-time section champ St. Francis this season.
"It's kind of a special moment," Samuels said. "The kids all know each other and have played against each other, including during the summer. They all respect each other."
If the postseason seedings hold true, all four could reach the CCS semifinals this season for the first time ever.
Sacred Heart Prep, for one, expects to be there. The Gators have fallen in the semifinals twice in the past three seasons, reaching the finals in 2003 before losing to St. Francis. Samuels has his squad off to a 7-1 start in 2005, following four straight wins and the championship in the 11th annual Amanda MacDonald Invitational last weekend.
Sacred Heart Prep dunked Soquel (14-0) and Aragon (14-3) before scoring impressive wins over Menlo-Atherton in the semifinals (12-4) and defending CCS champ Menlo in the finals, 6-4, as sophomore Pallavi Menon scored three goals.
The Gators' success is based on hard work and team play. There is no player that will carry the team this season, but it will take everyone working together if SHP is o win its first CCS title.
"I think they're very blue-collared," Samuels said of his team. "We have tremendous senior leadership, very athletic younger players and a very good bench."
Sounds like the Gators have all the pieces for a successful season.
"I guess," Samuels said. "I don't have any vision. They work hard and they get paid back for their hard work."
The seniors leading SHP this season include Christie Clark, Lauren Jollymour, Melissa Mordell, Kimi Stephens, Kristen McMillan, Rebecca Child and Edie Urban. Adriana Vogt is a productive starter and one of only two juniors, along with Kim Culpan. Hannah Stephens and goalie Lindsay Dorst, who transferred from Menlo-Atherton, join Menon and Caroline Clark in a top sophomore class. Yvonne Dunlevie is the lone freshman.
Sacred Heart Prep already has beaten Menlo twice this season, something Samuels shrugs off.
"It's worked out for us twice, but I don't think it foretells the future," Samuels said. "I think if we played Menlo 10 times, we'd split."
Sacred Heart and Menlo aren't scheduled to meet again this season until the CCS playoffs. In Saturday's championship game, the Gators used their counter-attack well to race to a 5-1 halftime lead.
"Water polo is best played in transition," said Samuels, "and we do that well."
That, and playing sound defense. Sacred Heart has allowed only 24 goals in eight games this season. The only loss was 7-6 to Davis, another top 10 NorCal team, in the semifinals of the St. Francis tournament.
Menlo
The Knights went 26-7 last season, won the third CCS title in the program's history and lost only one senior (Kelsey Haley).
While that would appear to put Menlo in the driver's seat once again, coach Kyle Utsumi still has a very young, albeit talented, squad that is off to an 8-3 start.
His returning starters including sophomore goalie Elise Ponce, senior Angie McPhaul, and juniors Camy Sullivan, Megan Burmeister, Kim Krueger and Whitney Allen.
Seniors Mattie Goldman and Galen Avery "are looking to make contributions," Utsumi said, "and we have five sophomores who are making a great impact in their first year of varsity."
The sophomore class includes Cayley Bowles, Christy Campbell, Sara Madding, Julie Campbell and Brittany Westerman.
Ponce already has shown flashes of being a first-rate goalie, but was victimized by Sacred Heart Prep's quick counter-attack in the MacDonald Invitational finale last Saturday. In earlier games, however, Menlo allowed one goal to Leland, two to Mitty and one to St. Francis in an 11-1 blowout that saw Bowles lead the way with three goals.
Like Sacred Heart Prep, Menlo relies on stingy defense, a quick counter and spreading the offense around. In a 15-2 romp over Mitty, seven different Knights scored.
As for the two losses to SHP, Utsumi knows he has time to devise a plan to beat the Gators and that will be the focus while Menlo defends its PAL Bay Division crown.
Menlo-Atherton
Chris Rubin may be in his first season as head coach, but he's hardly new to the program - having guided the Bears' JV team the past three season in addition to coaching many of the varsity players in the Stanford Water Polo Club during the summer.
Rubin has switched jobs with veteran Rick Longyear and has inherited arguably one of the best teams in M-A girls' water polo history.
M-A is off to a 7-2 start after finishing second in the prestigious Clovis Invitational and third in last weekend's MacDonald event, where the Bears beat St. Francis (12-8) for the first time in school history.
"That's a big win," Rubin said. "St. Francis, historically, is one of the top teams in the CCS."
The Bears, who lost to Palo Alto in the 2004 CCS quarterfinals, suddenly find themselves among the section's elite. How they respond throughout the season likely will determine if they'll be ready for the CCS final four.
M-A did go 6-1 in the PAL Bay Division last season, losing only to Menlo. Those teams will meet Oct. 26 in what should be a very interesting - and title-deciding - matchup in the Bears' lair.
Rubin said preparing for Menlo and Sacred Heart Prep is high on the team's to-do list. Getting to the CCS semifinals, he said, is a must.
"It's good to set high expectations," Rubin said.
Rubin has the players to meet those expectations, starting with seniors Kelly Eaton, Kelly Fero, Heidi Kucera and Danielle Hildebrandt. Eaton is a dangerous scorer from anywhere - she scored 12 goals last weekend -- while Kucera draws plenty of attention at two meters.
Add to that group juniors Lauren McDonnell, Rita Bullwinkel and goalie Jessie Welton and the Bears are solid. Sophomore Elise Delagnes and junior Kathryn Scott are able reserves.
Palo Alto
The Vikings are 9-4 and finished fifth in the MacDonald tourney, but missed senior starter Phoebe Champion during their 3-1 finish.
"Phoebe was on a recruiting trip at Princeton, which I thought was a good thing for us," said Paly first-year coach Theo Ludwick. "It created a void our other players had to step up and fill, and also showed us where we really need to improve."
Without Champion, the Vikings fell to St. Francis in the second round last Friday, 11-4. With Champion two weeks ago in the St. Francis tournament, Paly posted a 9-7 win.
"I think that our biggest challenge has been one of consistency," Ludwick said. "We play great water polo at times and sloppy water polo at other times."
Ludwick noted that St. Francis did outplay his team at Menlo, but that the Lancers also made 11 of 13 shots.
In addition to Champion, Paly has an experienced and talented player in junior Tanya Wilcox, who often drew three or four defenders during the weekend. She still managed 11 goals, despite being blanked by St. Francis.
Senior Roxanne Pinto and sophomore Lizzie Abbott were solid at both ends of the pool while senior Cate Simon and sophomore Amanda Wong drew praise from Ludwick for their play. Goalies Polly Ziegler and Irene Chang, both seniors, give the Vikings additional experience in that key area.
"We've seen that we can play at a high level and also know that we have areas that we still need to work on," Ludwick said. "Our goal is to play our best water polo in the championship season, and that is what we'll be working toward."
Gunn
The Titans, who went 17-11 a year ago, are off to a 6-6 start following a third-place finish in the Independence tournament last weekend. Coach Maria Zavala has a smaller group to work with this season after losing some key juniors when their families moved.
"Compared to last year, we have slightly less depth off the bench, but a very cohesive starting group," said Zavala, a former Gunn standout.
The starters include senior Di Eaton, the team's leading scorer and veteran leader. She's joined by seniors Alicia Edelman, Danielle Sainanee and Natalie Tupy, plus junior Natasha Walstra and sophomores Stephanie Hoffman and Emily Viggiano.
Hoffman scored eight goals and Eaton had seven plus 27 steals as Gunn went 3-1 last weekend.
Tupy is playing goalie for the first time and is making excellent progress. Sophomore Ellen Peck is a solid backup, who made her first start in Gunn's 7-1 win over Las Lomas in the third-place match.
"This is a hard-working team, very close knit and always excited to play," Zavala said. "I remind my team that we are small, but fierce, and they have really taken that to heart."
Castilleja
The Gators young went 12-18 last season and coach Ted Minnis is hoping his squad can surpass that mark this season. Castilleja is 4-12, having played many of the best teams in Northern California in tournament play each weekend.
At the MacDonald tourney, Castilleja fell to Menlo-Atherton (12-7), Los Altos (7-3) and Burlingame (9-5) while registering a 7-4 win over Soquel behind three goals from Ericka von Kaeppler and two by Kat Booher. Both scored three goals apiece against Menlo-Atherton.
Junior Jessie Carr looks to be the veteran leader of the team. She scored all three goals against Los Altos, which finished seventh in the MacDonald.
Other key members of the team include sophomore Hilary Walecka, senior Aditi Nagaraj and junior goalie Tori Anthony, who spends her spring as one of the top pole vaulters in the state.
Junior Chrissy Crone, junior Jil-Crary Ross, sophomore Emily Davis and freshman Laura Martinez also are counted upon to contribute.
Castilleja did open the season with a 9-5 win over Gunn and lost to St. Francis by only 9-7, so the Gators have the talent to be competitive.
"We're very young so I'm building for the next couple of years," Minnis said. "But, we're getting better every day."
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