Girls’ Water Polo: Surprising season ends for Seahawks
HUNTINGTON BEACH — A combination of sadness and joy could be found in the tears emanating from the eyes of several players on Ocean View High’s girls’ water polo team.
The end of a long journey had arrived for the seniors, one filled with many happy memories.
Top-seeded Villa Park dismissed the Seahawks from the postseason, as the Spartans won, 13-5, in a CIF Southern Section Division 3 first-round game at Ocean View High.
Lindsy Peterson, the third leading scorer in Orange County, had four goals and three assists to lead Villa Park (21-9). Briana Portales scored four goals, and Vanessa Tomeo recorded a hat trick.
Three years ago, the Seahawks (20-8) began a run that has continued to this day. Ocean View won the Golden West League title in the 2014-15 season, and it has defended it ever since.
This year was particularly meaningful to seniors Kari Lane and Ieva Vaiciunas, as the road to the playoffs became much tougher.
All of the work that the previous teams had done had not gone unnoticed, and the Seahawks were bumped up from Division 6 to Division 3.
“At first when we found out, we were like, ‘This sucks. Why would they do that to us?’” Lane said of the promotion. “In our hearts, we knew that this was the right thing because we could do it.”
“We came from Division 6, and we can compete with Division 3. That’s pretty cool.”
Most of this year’s roster had joined the team after playing at the junior varsity level the year before. The expectations were not as high as they had been in years past, but the Seahawks surprised themselves.
An emotional 7-6 victory over Segerstrom in the league title game on Feb. 9 left the team all smiles when they defied the odds with their third consecutive league crown.
“It was really stressful, that last point,” said Vaiciunas, the Seahawks’ goalie. “The joy on everyone’s faces when we actually won it was great.”
As shocking as this season was with the roster turnover, Vaiciunas called her own participation in water polo equally unlikely.
From the time she entered high school, it has been a transformative process. She learned proper swimming technique for the first time in her freshman year. By her junior year, she was the starting goaltender.
“I would never have envisioned this,” she said. “In my whole life, I would never have said that I would be playing water polo. Winning two league championships, it’s insane to think that has actually happened.”
Still in disbelief, Vaiciunas recalled her freshman self.
“I was wearing glasses. I wasn’t very athletic. I got contacts, I learned how to swim, and I learned how to be a goalie.”
Vaiciunas made 12 saves in her final game for the Seahawks. She also had an assist on an outlet pass to Lane.
That goal put Ocean View ahead, 2-1, with 3:04 left in the first quarter, which was the Seahawks’ only lead of the game.
Lane, the team’s leading scorer, finished with four goals. The last one came as the horn sounded an end to the game, as the senior attacker stole the ball in front of the net and fired away to beat the clock.
“That was pretty cool,” she said. “I don’t really remember it much. It was just the adrenaline pumping.”
Villa Park led 3-2 after the first quarter. The Spartans extended that lead to 7-2 at halftime.
In the third quarter, Autumn Knox struck on a beautiful lob from eight meters out. Knox was the only freshman on the team, and she is expected to be a big part of the Seahawks’ future plans.
“It’s an awesome experience for a freshman that just came in,” Seahawks coach Melissa Fernandez said of Knox playing her first playoff game. “The biggest thing holding her back right now is just the conditioning because she’s new. That’s the only reason why I can only play her for the short spurts.”
Sophomore Leyna Tran added an assist for Ocean View.
Victoria Vega and Katie Nunez had a goal apiece for Villa Park, and Morgan Stiewig stopped nine shots in net.
Twitter: @ProfessorTurner
