The girls water polo teams from The Bishop’s School and La Jolla High School put up some impressive numbers during the CIF San Diego Section Open Division quarterfinals Feb. 11, handily defeating their opponents.
The Bishop’s School
After setting a goal that coach Doug Peabody said was to “play their best water polo at the end of the season,” the top-seeded Knights routed No. 8 Cathedral Catholic 22-2 at the Coggan Family Aquatic Complex on the La Jolla High campus.
“They have the feeling that this is where they are supposed to be,” Peabody said as Bishop’s aims for its eighth consecutive Open Division championship. “We have worked super hard together all season.”
The girls who aren’t starters “really want to be starters” and have been approaching the game ready to prove themselves, Peabody said. Even so, the players share responsibilities and everyone tries “to be part of the bigger picture,” he added.
Going into the playoffs, Peabody said, the team “had a mindset of togetherness and how they can best assist each other. … The attention to detail and the fundamentals has been the best thing for them.”
Standouts from the quarterfinal match included Farren Moss, who scored five goals in the first half; Aileen Shin, who scored four goals; freshman Mackenzie Harris, who had five steals; Gigi Paredez and Rylann Hakim.
La Jolla High School
Later on Feb. 11, third-seeded La Jolla defeated No. 6 Torrey Pines, 20-13.
Vikings coach Tom Atwell said the players, with a range of ages and experience levels, meshed well this season.
“We have five seniors and our goalie is a four-year starter … so we have a really talented group,” said Atwell, who added that some of the top scorers are juniors. “We have senior leadership and younger kids. We have some freshmen that have come in and been impact players right away. It’s been a fun year.”
La Jolla High School junior Avery Edstrom (No. 2 in black cap) lines up a shot during the CIF San Diego Section Open Division quarterfinals Feb. 11 against Torrey Pines. (Ashley Mackin-Solomon)
In the playoffs, Atwell said, the girls “need to play fast” out of the gate.
“If we can do that, I think we’ll be in good shape,” he said. “If we slow down too much, that’s when we get into trouble. If they play with some wild abandon and just have fun, I think that is going to be the key to our success.”
Additional keys include leading scorer Aviana Cavaiola, Avery Edstrom, Cora Pfau, Stella Tezcan and goalie Lucia Vega, Peabody said.
Next round
In the Open Division semifinals on Tuesday, Feb. 17, Bishop’s will take on No. 5 El Camino at 6 p.m., and La Jolla will face No. 2 Valhalla at 7:30 p.m., both at the Coggan pool.
“Our nemesis last year was Valhalla,” said La Jolla’s Atwell. “We lost to them three times last year, but split the season [series] with them this year, so we have made some improvements. If we can clear that, we’re good to go.”
The winners in the semifinals will meet in the championship game at 6:45 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21, also at Coggan. ♦