Girls’ Water Polo: Eagles make history
The Estancia High girls’ water polo team forgot to throw Coach Mitch White into the pool following Tuesday night’s historic win.
White, who had given his players permission to do so, took his valuables out of his pockets in preparation. But the girls didn’t think of it until a couple of minutes later.
“It doesn’t bother me,” White said with a smile after the game. “I stay dry.”
The Eagles can be forgiven for not remembering to throw in their coach. After all, they had never been in this position before, nor had any of the Estancia girls’ water polo players who came before them.
Estancia won its first CIF playoff game in program history Tuesday night at the Eagles’ pool, beating visiting Bell Gardens, 12-8, in the first round of the CIF Southern Section Division 7 playoffs.
Estancia won the pre-coin flip and will play at home in the second round Thursday, against Fontana. Fontana got past Norte Vista, 19-1, in another first-round game Tuesday.
On Valentine’s Day, the Eagles loved the result of Tuesday’s match. Sophomore Katelyn Chesemore led the way with six goals for Estancia, which was making its fourth playoff appearance in program history and first since 2013.
Senior center Hayley Hopp scored three goals for the Eagles (12-6), who finished the regular season ranked No. 8 in Division 7. Junior Kalena Shepherd scored twice and senior Julia Paluch added a goal and four steals for Estancia.
Senior goalie Hannah Smith, a three-year starter in goal, made eight saves for the winners. And junior Annie Mitchell led the way defensively with five steals.
The Eagles, all of whom were making their postseason debut, stepped up to the occasion.
“It hasn’t really sunk in yet,” Paluch said. “I think later, I won’t be able to sleep.”
Estancia had a strong start against Bell Gardens (9-7), the third-place team out of the Almont League. The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the first quarter, scoring a pair of six-on-five goals from Paluch and Chesemore, who also scored an even-strength goal. Hopp added a counterattack strike.
Bell Gardens responded with power-play goals from Natalie Pitones, who had a team-high three goals, and Stephanie Hernandez. The Lancers pulled within 4-2 by the end of the quarter. White had to adjust some things as his set guard, his freshman daughter Sydni, had been excluded twice already.
But Estancia’s Chesemore scored twice more early in the second to give her team a four-goal advantage. Jennifer Reyes scored the first of her two goals for Bell Gardens from outside, but Hopp added two more goals to give Estancia the 8-3 halftime lead.
Bell Gardens never got closer than four goals in the second half.
Smith, who had five of her eight saves in the second half, still got beat on a couple of shots from the outside.
“I wasn’t at the top of my game,” she said. “I could have done better, and I will do better in the next CIF game.”
The Eagles will likely need it, against a Fontana team that is 20-6 and won the San Andreas League. But at least Thursday’s game is also at Estancia.
Another record-setting win, and White might not be so lucky to avoid getting pushed into the pool this time.
The Eagles are going to enjoy the ride either way.
“We see all the other sports get into CIF and we’re like, ‘Why can’t we do that?’” Hopp said. “This year, we got it, and it feels good.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
