With Miramonte, Acalanes, and Campolindo being ranked nationally 1, 5 and 8 respectively, once again it’s hell-bent for leather for these schools with a combined 38 and 10 record.

MIRAMONTE

    Coming into this season, on the surface, there were some serious questions about the Miramonte team. One was that their pool was undergoing a major overhaul and would not be in use until much later in the season. This forced the team to practice in the evening from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. at Acalanes but head coach John Roemer felt it necessary to adjust those times. “That was just too late to practice because it was going to prove unhealthy for the girls so we have been playing with 25% practice time.” 

    With a roster of 14 freshmen and sophomores and only eight juniors and seniors, it was a question as to whether youth would be served. With a 16-2 record against top competition and ranked first nationally, the results speak for themselves. “I didn’t expect to win with this team as quickly as we have,” Roemer said. “Our strength is in our freshmen, sophomores, and a couple of juniors. In practice, our younger players are pushing the upper ones to be better so we are scrimmaging in practice like we’re playing in a game. However, a lot of the freshmen are still tentative of stepping on toes. They have the talent and speed but they had never been taught things like body positions and certain defenses, so they will only get better.”

    Roemer took particular satisfaction with the team’s victories over Carondelet 8-7 and Soquel 13-1, ranked 2 and 3 nationally: “The close victories over those teams are the types of games that we play for. The 22-6 games are no fun.”

    The leading goal scorers have been juniors Hannah Gardner-45 and Madison Chong-23, sophomores Ana Shogan-33, Elisabeth Hassett-15, and Sylvie Portet-14, senior co-captains Bella Beaver-20, Samantha Lurie-6 and Grayson Menard-5, and freshman Carmel Golan-21. 

    Gardner and Shogan have been the leaders in the water and Golan has been a top player as well. “Carmel has been a particular standout in her first season. She is super-fast and won the county in the 50 free and has not lost a single sprint, has learned to be physical and is showing how good she can be,” Roemer said. 

    Miramonte has shown great depth on their roster. “In our tournament in Clovis, we went with three lines – six in and six out and then another six in and six out,” Roemer said.

    Miramonte is scoring two more goals per game over last season as Roemer has built on his motion offense. “We evolved it into a motion offense but if the 4-2 doesn’t work, we go right into a 3-3 into a weakside drive and then that puts us back into a 4-2 and we’ve been going through that seamlessly. We can get four solid attacks in one possession, allowing us to get at least one good shot on goal. The players are still learning to not take a good shot when they have a teammate who may have a better shot and yet we are still scoring more goals than last year.”

    Defensively, Miramonte has been giving up only 7.5 goals per game with junior Joslyn Cox being very solid in the goal and backed up by senior Avery Schilling. “Joslyn has been very good at communicating and has shown great anticipation and is more explosive this year and just needs to be more consistent,” Roemer said. “Shelby Salling who is the National Goalkeeper coach for the USA Water Polo women’s program has been invaluable in the improved play of our goalies.”

CAMPOLINDO    

    Despite having graduated 10 seniors, Campolindo has not missed a beat with a 10-5 record, a victory over Miramonte and being ranked eighth nationally – even having defeated the third and fourth ranked Carondelet and Soquel. 

    Second year head coach Savannah Rose has a youngish team with nine sophomores and seven juniors and seniors. “We have been able to pick up on what we're working for offensively and defensively last season and that’s made the start of the season a little easier. We've got a really good group of young girls that have come in and filled the roles of those who have graduated.”

    For Rose, it did not start when school began. “It began with having really good club play throughout the summer which has enabled us to have a really good start to the season.”

    Rose puts a lot of stock in the intangibles of the game. “Last year, we were able to work out the kinks of the mental game and stick together. This year’s team has picked up where we left off and we’re in a good spot where the team is working really hard, where they’re happy but still not satisfied. That continues to keep the focus on getting better and everybody’s energy is on the same page.”

    Campolindo has increased their scoring average from 10.4 last season to 11.6 this year. “Our offense has opened up this season. Our body positioning is much better and our outside shooting has improved which starts with our counterattack. We have a group that are extremely fast, and the other girls come along with them. Everything starts from the counter which puts us in a really good position to be a threat in the center and on the outside so it's definitely been unlocked in that sense.”

    One of the keys to their offense has been the center position. “Caity DeFrancisci has done an amazing job in drawing a lot of attention which takes a lot of pressure off of everybody else, making them all better,” Rose said. “Our lead attackers have been Lily Holloway and Louise Walls, who is also a key defender. Eloise Gaffney on the 1-2 side has a great sense of getting her legs up and moves really well in the water and is getting opportunities to show her skills.”

    The defense has been rotating through Lane Kish, Lyla Mediano and Walls. “This frees up Louise to be up top and an attacker,” Rose said. “We pride ourselves on having a tough defense. We press hard and we try not to let our opponents get into their offense unless they truly earn it.”

    Along with the superlative play of sophomore goalie Brooklyn Michlitsch who has seamlessly replaced all-league Sydney Kring, the defense has been giving up only 8.5 goals per game. “Brooklyn plays bigger than her height, covering the cage side to side,” Rose said. “She is a great leader and communicator and is one of the best things we’ve seen so far this season with her work ethic and she will only get better.”

    As they head into league play, Rose is still looking for more from the team: “We still have room for improvement on our offense. We've made a lot of strides in our defense and that should lead to more offensive possessions and getting up on the counters and opening up certain layers to that as well.”

ACALANES

    Acalanes has been growing from within these past two seasons. Last year, the team had four sophomores and five freshmen and this year, the team has six juniors, five sophomores, two seniors and one freshman. With a 14-3 record, the strategy has been working.

    “It’s kind of hard to describe what we are,” coach Misha Buchel said. “We have two all-American seniors, (Adelyn Horciza and Finley Graff), and a couple of inexperienced juniors and then it’s all sophomores who got some significant playing time last year. We’re still learning what it takes for us to be successful in the highest-level games. Despite losing by a total of five goals against Campolindo, Carondelet and San Ramon, it was the execution at the end of the quarters and the end of the game that let us down and that’s just going to be part of our growth going forward.”

    The losses to those top teams were addressed by Buchel: “We made some mistakes that either gave us a chance to get a goal or gave away a goal at the end because of misunderstanding the situation and what we should be doing so we really emphasized those points in practice. We just needed to live it and experience it to have a tangible example of how we can handle those situations better in the future.” Acalanes would come back to defeat Campolindo on Oct. 7, 9-6.

    Acalanes is averaging 11.5 goals per game led by first team all-league Finley Graff who will be playing for Michigan next year. “Besides Finley, we have a great deal of depth,” Buchel said. “Malin Stone (2nd team all-league), Elinor Chen, a lefty, and Maddie Maurer have all shown well. Maddie is our second center and she has been showing a lot of growth along with Anika Rehn and Jayna Guiro, our fastest swimmers.”

    The defense has been led by center defender Lily Briones, a priority position for Acalanes. “Lily has been fantastic. We do everything we can making sure we protect that area and Lily is the latest in a long line of strong players that we had had at that position.”

    Lucy Kerr brings a great understanding to her role on defense. “Lucy knows when she needs to extend the defense into a press and when she needs to drop back and help while communicating to the players on her side of the pool along with being able to defend on the interior should the need arise,” Buchel said. “Althea Topp, our lone freshman has been a real contributor as a smart, team defender who does not defer when she shouldn’t, having played a lot of club water polo.”

    There is an embarrassment of riches in the goalie position with all-league senior Adelyn Horciza and junior Lucy McShane, sharing time and being both recruited by top colleges. “When you have two incredible goalies it makes our practices so much better. Adelyn really knows how to use her voice and her communication from the goal has been spectacular. Our hope is that with time and experience, playing so many young players, we are looking for improvement over the course of the year.”