Great Showing by SJA At Tournaments!
For some of our players this weekend marked their very first water polo game – ever. For others,it was the first one in 2016! We are proud of the amazing effort made by every SJA player this weekend. We had some sweet victories and also got the experience to learn from our defeats.
Check out what our coaches have to say about the teams:
18U Boys – Coach Mike: Saturday morning at West Valley, the 18U Boys team played well and won all three of their matches! A great start or our winter season. Jason Gates and Connor Sochocki had standout performances on defense and Jack Bignell powered our team’s offense with outstanding set-play. Highlights from the day included Brandon Tuck’s two counterattack backhand goals, Jake Murtha’s pass-to-himself, drive, and finish goal, and numerous, beautiful, turns and shots out of the 2-meter position by Jack Bignell. Well done team. Looking forward to seeing what the team can do next week.
18U Girls – Coach Eric: Our advanced group had an impressive showing in the Open Division with an impressive 4-0 record in the 18U division. Our advanced group is very young, but played amazing – most of the team is 15 and younger. Also, for the majority, this was their first experience playing in the Open division. They played a tough 5-10 game against Davis and then came back with a close 6-8 game against LaMorinda. On the second day, they defeated Lamorinda and 680 B by a combined 31-11. An amazing 4th quarter against 680 B to put the game away. Down 7-6 entering the 4th, the girls won the quarter 6-1. Great defense played all day by SJA. This was done with only one sub! I was very proud of the girls: two middle schoolers, Jenna Flynn & Arrington McGee; three freshman, Carson Rampelberg, Destiny Barnett, & Georgia Stebbins (goalie), sophomores, Kaylie Mendoza and Lauren Jufiar, junior Avalon Gook, and seniors, Sanam Ghazvini, Myranda Wienkers (goalie), and Aria Leone (goalie). They really stepped up to the challenge of playing the top level league! Also, great opportunities to get better working on offensive efficiency and movement, but an impressive tournament for our team!
16U Boys – Coach Cory: It was a very beneficial tournament this weekend for our 16U Boys team with everyone getting lots of playing time. Our team is very young with most of them being freshman so we weren’t as experienced as some of the other teams we faced; however, that did not stop us from playing hard. The first game started out rough, but in the second half we made an adjustment to our defense and it resulted in SJA outscoring them the rest of the game. For our second game, the focus was on shooting more than the last game and it resulted in us being more aggressive and ultimately scoring more goals than the previous game. The last game of the day was very competitive with the score going back and forth. In the end, we lost but the team demonstrated overall improvements in defense and offense compared to early games. As a coach, I saw tons of improvement from all the plays and I believe the more we play together we will only get better not just as individuals but as a team. Go SJA!
16U Girls – Coach Rachel and Coach Tony: This weekend was a learning experience for our 16U girls. They are not only a young group, but this was the first time playing together in a competition. Coming from different teams and clubs they are learning to play cohesively. We started off strong with a solid win over Roar. Lots of points on the board with a final score of 9-2. It was great to see a lot of different players scoring and being involved on offense. The next two games proved more challenging but the girls held to it with positive attitudes and communications. Our set players, Lauren Andrakin, Min Kyoung Kim, and Carly Wahl, looked strong and had a real presence in all three games. Maddie Elliott’s defensive skills kept SJA in the last game fighting to the end with a final score of 5-7. She was our MVP of the day! Tony and I are looking forward to this next week of practice so we can review some of the areas for improvement in preparation for some great play next weekend!
14U Boys – Coach Elise: First time in the pool in competition together, the 14U boys team faced difficult competition this weekend but never stopped fighting. Although they competed against much older, experienced, and larger teams, their determination and energy never died down. Being a younger team, they showed a significant amount of potential this weekend with clear improvement made by the end of the third game. It will be exciting to watch them continue to learn and grow as water polo players.
14U Girls – Coach Lauren: The 14U girls showed great improvement at the Saturday tournament in Mountain View. Playing back to back games is challenging for any team and the 14U girls showed great tenacity and spirit. They made great strides defensively in the third game and I was so proud that the girls had such fluidity as a team although they have only been playing together a few weeks. With more pool time, I am sure we will show even greater improvement over the next few tournaments.
12U Boys and Girls – Coach Sohil: Even though we didn’t keep score this weekend at Los Altos, to be honest I don’t care. For the majority of our 12U players, this was their first water polo game ever, and yet they still immensely impressed me with their ability to play as a team. We ended up getting a bye the first game, because the other team didn’t show up, but that allowed us to scrimmage against each other. Then we had another game right after that – meaning the kids played for about 2 hours straight! It was incredible to see, even after swimming hard for 1.5 hours, my players would hustle up and down the pool. I’m really proud of them, and I’m excited to see where their dedication takes them as the season progresses.