ACALANES

    With a 16-2 record and ranked second nationally, Acalanes girls water polo head coach Misha Buchel still keeps things in perspective: “Being ranked so high nationally, is not going to determine our success or failure as a team." 

    The team has been winning with a combination of offense and defense. The offense is led by senior Ella Del Rosario who will be Princeton bound next year. Del Rosario is leading the team with goals (56), steals (20), drawing exclusions (20) and has scored on 73.3% of her shots.

    Buchel sees nothing but excellence in Del Rosario’s play: “Ella is a unicorn. For someone to play as big as she does in the water, you would never know she is just a few inches over five feet tall. Ella has many weapons in her toolbox to get the ball over the line. Her success comes from her technique, strength inside, fast twitch, anticipation, and her ability to read the game faster than anybody else in the water, which gives her that extra little bit of an advantage. She is so difficult to defend while on the move, teams feel they have to take that exclusion foul as a last resort to try and stop her from scoring.”

    Two other seniors, Sara Wlliams and Olivia Whipple, have also been key players on offense and defense, says Buchel: “Sara is a jack of all trades, playing more of a defensive role for us when we need her strength to match up against a power player and is also a force inside on offense. Olivia is our center defender and the game has slowed to a crawl for her, allowing her to anticipate 2-3 steps ahead of the opponent.
 
    Last year’s team had a paucity of seniors while this season has every class well represented. “The challenge last season for us was our lack of depth, especially in the biggest games,” Buchel said. “We were only able to go one deep on the bench. This year we’re ready for the top tier games with the influx of our freshman class led by Jayna Guiro, Anika Rehn, and Lucy Kerr. Maddie Maurer and Elinor Chen have been competing on both the JV and varsity teams.”

    Sophomores Malin Stone (26G, 29A) and Lily Briones (12G, 13A) really benefited from their freshman year. “Malin and Lily have grown into their roles from where they started last year and that’s our expectation for this year’s freshmen.”

    Junior Finley Graff is our primary center, the one who occupies the space right in front of the goal.”

    As effective as the offense has been averaging 11.5 goals/game, the defense has been even more dominant, not allowing an opponent to reach double figures.

    “You have to be able to play defense to play,” Buchel said. “Our young players have really increased our depth and perimeter defense by allowing us to rotate a bit more if we get into foul trouble so it’s been fantastic to have them.”

    Junior goalie Adelyn Horciza, a three-year starter, has been dominant in the net, giving up only 62 goals against 109 saves. “Adelyn has been spectacular and has a big presence in the goal so it doesn’t look like there’s a whole lot to shoot at,” Buchel said. “She has improved her technique, the use of her voice and her outlet passing helps to get our counterattack going. Sophomore goalie Lucy McShane (49 saves) has also performed well when called upon, particular in the Soquel game, and would be a very worthy number one.”

    The two losses this season were low scoring affairs losing 5-3 to Carondelet and 6-5 to San Ramon Valley, but games to learn by, according to Buchel: “We felt good about our defense in both of those games and we saw that our offense needed improvement and we’ve used that to drive what we are working on and knowing what our expectations are on the offensive side of the ball and it has already paid dividends.”

    For Buchel, winning is not the only thing: "Number one for us is that the girls are having fun. We want this to be the most special thing that they are a part of and that’s independent of our wins and losses. Still, we have pretty high goals as far as what we’re hoping to achieve in how our last game of the season ends.”

CAMPOLINDO

    First year head coach Savannah Rose has seen early success with her team’s 12-5 record and being ranked eighth in the nation: “Things are going really well though we are still figuring out who we are, and how deep we can go, and what we can really do, but in a super fun, positive way. We’re still working through some stuff but we’re also getting better with each game, so it’s all positive.”

    It’s been a mutual learning experience for Rose and the team: “I've learned that our players are resilient and they will compete even if the momentum starts to go the other way. They don’t get too high or low emotionally and are able to finish the games when it matters, which reflects their dedication to the sport and that they can trust that we're in it together. After winning three close games and stacking up wins, there’s a trust in myself and in the team as well. I want them learning they can trust me and that I can coach them through close games. I’m also learning about myself too as a first-time head coach.”

    Campolindo has been getting production from all four classes. “That’s going to be the key as we continue to develop our team from all aspects of those grade levels,” Rose said.

    On offense, I like to be strong up the middle so I think it's very important to have a good center and good center defender play,” Rose said. “It’s bringing on your attackers who can drive hard and release hard. To play well in our offense, you have to be able to see what's in front of you and what's across the cage as well on the other side.”

    There are a number of players that have adopted well to what Rose is looking for: “Last year’s reigning league MVP Lily Holloway, freshman Louise Walls and Lilly Schmidt have been the players driving the offense: Holloway is the person we’re always looking to in our offense. Louise has really stepped up her offense and is our first defender. Lilly Schmidt is our center, and does a good job in getting in there, holding her position, earning exclusions, and scoring goals. Caitlin Williams has been doing a great job coming in off the bench. Sophomore Lyla Mediano has seen more playing time and she's really stepped up defensively as well. Ella Binney has done a good job in being a sounding board for the team and she keeps that balance of calm and experience and just works really hard contributing on both offense and defense. We can use any number of players at the one or five and they can all run our offense. It’s just whoever gets to that spot so it’s not necessarily one person.” 

    Defense is very important to Rose: “Defense wins championships where you have to have good communication. Sydney Kring was last season’s MVP goalie. It’s special to have her in the goal, playing so well and communicating to the team.”
  
    In watching the game film, Rose sees ways to keep improving: “We saw that we were just beating ourselves and we’ve developed the mindset that we can and will get better. The ultimate key to success is for us to keep sticking together as a team with our offensive and defensive principles, particularly in this very competitive league. It’s going to be sticking together as a team and handling the stress and pressure that is there whether we win or lose. It’s staying in control of our emotions and using that energy for positive fuel.”

MIRAMONTE
 
    Miramonte, 13-8 and ranked 10th nationally, also has a very even distribution of players among the classes and head coach John Roemer is utilizing a number of his younger players: “We lost 11 seniors last year, most of whom are playing in college now. Our strengths are in our younger group and even our JV team has been dominant so this is a rebuilding and regrouping year for us.”

    Roemer continues to use the triangle offense he has had so much success with it the past: “Often it’s a matter of teaching the technique necessary to be successful in our system.”

    Freshman attacker Ana Shogan (39G, 10A) is the team’s leading scorer and was on Roemer’s club team this summer, coming out the better for it. “Ana came in knowing our offense and has good strength with a good shot,” Roemer said. “She has high water polo IQ and we’re working on her speed but she is getting a lot better. Ana, Hannah Gardner, and senior co-captain Roxie Tarantino have been our three leading players. Bella Beaver, Ilinca Gaitanaru and Grayson Menard have all been playing well and seniors Katie Liu, with her speed, has been leading the team in assists and Fiona McCool has shown a very strong shot and a lot of improvement in her first year with the team.”

    Roemer continues to rely on his system on defense: “We’re pretty solid on defense and don’t do much individually but will run different zone patterns that work. Roxie has been mostly a defensive player at center defender and Hannah Gardner has also played really good defense.” 
    The play in the net has been solid for the Matadors, with junior Avery Schilling and sophomore Avery Cox sharing time and have contributed to better goalie play this season.

    Besides Shogan, there is a group of freshmen, Sylvie Portent, Gianna Fraioli and Greta Cole, who have been the core of the JV team and have also played for the varsity and shown great potential for the future.

    Roemer is still looking for improvement this season: “I like to use the term working in concert with each other, especially with our offense. I’m looking for our offense to have more tempo because that’s what it’s built for and we’re not doing it yet. Once we can be more connective, we can be very good. It’s easy to say, but implementing it is a whole different thing, which can be frustrating.”