APTOS – The goal at the beginning of the season for the Gilroy
High girls varsity water polo team was to qualify for the Central
Coast Section playoffs. Mission accomplished.
However, the No. 11-seeded Mustangs’ playoff run was short-lived
as they fell to the No. 6 Gunn Titans 14-8 on Wednesday night in
Aptos.
APTOS – The goal at the beginning of the season for the Gilroy High girls varsity water polo team was to qualify for the Central Coast Section playoffs. Mission accomplished.
However, the No. 11-seeded Mustangs’ playoff run was short-lived as they fell to the No. 6 Gunn Titans 14-8 on Wednesday night in Aptos.
Despite the early exit, this year’s Mustangs team will go down in the history books as the first-ever girls water polo team to represent GHS in the postseason.
“I actually think we played really well tonight,” said second-year head coach Sean LaGuardia, who was named the Tri County Athletic League Coach of the Year earlier this week. “We were able to keep up with them as far as the swimming, they just had a lot of good shooters who took a lot of great shots.
A slow start crippled the Mustangs as they found themselves down 7-0 after the first period and 13-2 at halftime.
“If you take that first period away we played a really good game,” LaGuardia said.
On their way to a second-place finish at last week’s TCAL Championships, the Mustangs were able to spread the ball around the pool, receiving goals from a number of players. But on Wednesday, the Mustangs were unable to get the perimeter offense rolling, resulting in Junior Chelsea Hill scoring all eight of the goals, five of which came in the final period.
“The girls were happy with the way they played. I was happy,” LaGuardia said. It was just a great experience. It is something to build off of for next season.”
The Mustangs lose just one senior off of this year’s roster, and return First-Team All-TCAL selections Hill and sophomore Michelle Shields – an exciting thought for Laguardia
“I’m already starting to think about what we can do in the off-season and leading up to next year that will make us better,” LaGuardia said.
Junior Lauren Rhodes rounded out the list of season honors, earning the Richard Chamberlin Sportsmanship Award.
