Last year, Girls Water Polo were 22-8 in season and swept 6-0 in league. This year, they are eager to do the same but realize it will not be an easy road to success.
They are currently 4-5 in season matches and will start league play on Dec. 12 with their first game against the Mission Viejo Diablos.
Head Coach, Danny Werner said, “The girls definitely know that we have to work on a lot of different things if we want to win CIF, but I am confident we can reach that point because the girls are committed to playing.”
The girls lost six players to graduation since last year, all of whom played huge roles in the success of last year’s team. However, 4-year varsity player and captain, Gabi Lueken (12) is doing great work to ensure Water Polo is set up for success.
On Dec. 3, the girls played a close game against the Garden Grove Argonauts. The Argonauts were expected to win but the Wolverines were victorious. Aliso started strong in the first quarter, maintained that momentum through the second and third quarters, and slightly fell off in the fourth, but still managed to pull off an amazing win of 9-7.
Varsity player, Cara Eluna (10) says, “It was an amazing game. We’ve been building up team chemistry, so I think that is why we were able to pull through with the win.”
On Dec. 5, the Wolverines competed against the Yorba Linda Mustangs at Yorba Linda High School. The game ended with a score of 9-6.
As of Dec. 5, Girls Water Polo has currently won four out of the last five games, giving them an extra boost of confidence going into their final regular-season games and the beginning of their league games.
Coach Werner commented, “Since we had a lot of players moving from junior varsity to varsity, I expected team chemistry was going to be a little off at the start of the season. Now, our players are playing really well together, which means more wins for us.”
Over Thanksgiving Break, the ladies played in the Garden Grove Tournament; their overall record was 2-2. They played an incredibly close game against the Etiwanda Eagles, ultimately falling to the Eagles 5-7. The second and third games were great for our Lady Wolverines. They crushed both Pacifica and Tesoro with scores of 12-3 and 7-1 respectively. Unfortunately, their last game did not go as they hoped against Arcadia, the final score being 4-11, but the girls still played incredibly well.
During league, Aliso will be competing against the Capistrano Valley Cougars, Tesoro Titans, and Mission Viejo Diablos. Currently, Aliso has the best record amongst those teams but Capo Valley is a close second, so it will be tough competition when that particular match-up occurs. In the 23-24 season, the Wolverines versus Cougars game was the closest with a single-digit differential for a final score of 5-4. This year, the Wolverines are confident in their ability to maintain their league champion status and succeed in CIF.
