As the girls’ water polo team begins league play, the squad looks to continue its seven-year undefeated streak in league, and win its 19th straight Mission League Championship.
Thus far, the team has not lost in league play, having won over Notre Dame, Marlborough and Marymount.
“We want to maintain our seven-year streak of never losing a league game, but at the same time, we have to take it game by game and make sure we execute as well as we can each time we get into the pool,” senior captain Sophia Gonzalez ’15 said.
Before winter break, the squad participated in the Mistletoe Classic and played a non-league matchup with water polo rival Mater Dei. Even though the team lost to Mater Dei, players believe the matchup helped them grow as a unit.
“The Mater Dei game was a good learning experience for our team,” Gonzalez said. “Even though they are in a higher division, it showed our team, which is relatively inexperienced, that we had to work hard over winter break to improve before league play.”
Though the team only has one senior and four upperclassmen in total, it has gained some experienced players in the past few weeks.
With Helena Miles ’16 back from semester school at the High Mountain Institute in Colorado and Daily Hartmeier ’16 coming back from injury within the next week, the girls’ water polo team will have more momentum and leadership.
“Because we don’t really have a center this season, I feel that we have been working better as a team than we have in past years,” Miles said. “Every member of the team has a very specific role, and can’t just rely on one or two people’s talent to carry us to victory.”
Over winter break the team had two practices a day for two weeks to prepare for the rigorous 12-game league schedule ahead.
The practices were meant to improve not only the team’s play, but also its team chemistry.
“Since I was at semester school for the beginning of the season, the two weeks of training not only helped acclimate me to the team, but I also think that it helped the rest of the players improve as well,” Miles said.
