Flintridge Sacred Heart’s Canessa nets most valuable goalie

One of the greatest seasons in Flintridge Sacred Heart Academy water polo history was accompanied by a slew of postseason awards on the All-Mission League list.

Tologs senior Trisha Canessa was named the Mission League Most Valuable Goalie, while five teammates were additionally lauded by the league.

This past season, Flintridge Sacred Heart finished 15-15 and took fourth place in league to qualify for the postseason. The Tologs then earned the program’s first-ever playoff victory via a 7-2 triumph at San Dimas in the wild-card round of the CIF Southern Section Division V postseason on Feb. 14.

The very next day, the Tologs traveled to No. 4-seeded Santa Ana Valley and fell, 5-3, in overtime in a contest the squad led, 3-1, at halftime.

“We had several talented seniors on this team who played a big role,” Flintridge Sacred Heart Coach Carlos Ponce said. “They played together as a team and all the success belongs to them.”

One of those seniors was Canessa, who took the league’s highest honor for a goalie.

“I’m very humbled by the award,” Canessa said. “First of all, I didn’t think I was going to be picked team MVP (at the program’s banquet on Thursday) let alone the league MVP. It was very unexpected, but I’m very, very happy. The hard work has definitely paid off.”

Canessa set a school record with 212 saves, while she tallied 23 steals and 38 assists.

Perhaps one of the more underrated aspects of Canessa’s game was her passing.

“She helped us from cage to cage,” Ponce said. “About 50% of the time on offense, she set us up. Her stats are great, particularly for the Mission League, which is a great league. I think only once in league did she allow more than 10 goals and she really made our defense tough.”

Senior Emily Gray was Flintridge Sacred Heart’s lone league first-team pick after the utility player finished with 67 goals and 33 steals.

“The biggest thing with Emily is that she was our defensive stopper,” Ponce said. “She matched up with [Sherman Oaks] Notre Dame’s Georgia Moran in the last game of the league tournament and held her to two goals. Emily was the type of player who didn’t shy away from the big challenge.”

Ponce picked up three second-team selections in junior two-meter attacker Zoe Drobenko, senior two-meter defender Sarah Peterson and senior driver Sarah Perret.

Drobenko tallied a team-leading 84 goals and 15 steals, Peterson contributed 24 goals and Perret finished with 18 goals.

Though Ponce was happy with the recognition for his girls, he was somewhat miffed that Drobenko was on the second team, rather than the first squad.

“Honestly, Zoe Drobenko was a first-teamer hands down,” Ponce said. “I talked to a couple of league coaches who were just dumb-founded that Zoe wasn’t on the team. She was a dominant force and that was very disappointing.”

Senior two-meter defender Kate Rosenberger was a league honorable mention after finishing with 15 goals and 33 steals.

The Mission League’s other main award — league MVP — was bestowed upon Harvard-Westlake senior Camille Oswald, who led the Wolverines to the league title.