Water Is Her World

When the bright yellow ball plops on to the surface of the water with a splash just in front of Kristyn Pulver, the first thought that crosses her mind is “score.”

Instantaneously, her eyes widen and the normally low-key, down-to-earth junior becomes a feisty competitor for the Villa Park girls’ water polo team.

In a splashy scramble, she battles her defender for possession; more often than not, she wins. Using her speed and strength, she turns her hapless defender around and fires toward the goal.

“I’m always looking for an open shot,” said Pulver, who plays two meter. “When I get the ball down there, I want to score, but if it’s not there, I’ll look to see if somebody else is open.”

Pulver has already found the net 64 times in 14 games this season. Last season, she scored a team-high 87 goals in 27 games and as a freshman she had 76 in 25 games, also leading the team.

“She’s very determined once she gets the ball down there,” Villa Park Coach John Carcich said. “And when she does, it’s very tough to stop her.”

But her prowess does not end on the offensive end. Pulver is also a top-notch defender. She has led her team in steals each of the last two seasons (90 in 1996-97 and 113 in 1997-98) and leads again this year with 76.

Pulver is on her way to being selected All-Southern Section Division I for the third consecutive season, and she could become the first four-time all-section selection. Girls’ water polo has been a section-sanctioned sport only since 1996-97, when Pulver was the only freshman so honored.

“At the beginning of the year, I didn’t know how much she could improve,” Carcich said. “But right now, she is playing the best I’ve seen her play. She keeps getting better.”

The only fears that haunt Pulver about her career have to do with injury--especially after a gruesome accident during her freshman year.

In a Century League game against Foothill, Pulver was defending at the two-meter position. During a battle for possession, a Foothill player poked Pulver in the eye.

Not just any poke, however. Doctors later told her that nearly half of her opponent’s finger plunged through her eye. She had to have stitches on her eyeball.

“It wasn’t the pain that bothered me,” Pulver said. “I was scared that I would never play polo again. There was blood coming all down my face. I had been kicked and punched in the face before, but never anything like that.”

Though the injury occurred in the first half of that game, Pulver remained on the team’s bench until the conclusion. Only after watching Villa Park defeat Foothill--albeit with one eye covered with a patch--did Pulver go to the hospital. She missed the remainder of the season, but still considers that game the best moment in her high school career--so far.

“We beat them again the next year, but the first time was the best,” Pulver said. “When you go to Villa Park everyone always talks about how you have to beat Foothill. It’s a big rivalry--you’ve got to beat Foothill.”

Pulver estimates she spends about 2 1/2 hours a day in the pool during the high school water polo season. Over the summer, she plays for Trabuco Aquatics Program, one of the nation’s top club teams.

Over the recent winter vacation, Pulver played for the Junior National Youth team that placed third at a tournament in Canada.

A six-year veteran of the sport, Pulver, 16, hopes to compete for the U.S. National team someday, perhaps even make an Olympic squad. She said she is willing to make the sacrifices required.

“It takes almost all of my time,” she said. “During the weekends I try not to go out if we have a game the next day. Water polo comes before anything.”

Pulver’s dedication has paid off for the Spartans, who are 14-0 and winners of their own tournament as well as the San Clemente tournament. So has the improved play of teammates Shannon Buckner and Danee French, which has freed Pulver from the constant double-teaming she used to face.

The balanced attack makes Villa Park, ranked second in the county coaches’ poll, a strong candidate to reach the Division I final. Last year, the Spartans lost in the quarterfinals. It also helps erase any boundaries on the number of goals Pulver can score.

“She still has another year to go after this,” Carcich said. “Who knows how good she’ll be by then.”