Stachowski Rises Above

From Day 1 of the girls’ water polo season, Ashley Stachowski of Capistrano Valley was pegged as the top player in Orange County.

Because of that, the UCLA-bound senior routinely faced defensive schemes designed to stop her.

But from Day 1, Stachowski, who over the last year has spent several weeks working out with the U.S. women’s national team, was ready for the challenge.

She delivered all season for the Cougars and after leading Capistrano Valley to the Southern Section Division I semifinals, Stachowski is The Times Orange County player of the year.

Her 126 goals and 102 assists were among the county’s best. Her outstanding speed and knowledge of the game only further her cause.

But by realizing early that she would be marked, Stachowski displayed a part of her game she hadn’t shown before--leadership.

“Everybody knew about her talent coming into the season,” Cougar Coach Craig Fransen said. “But this year she really came a long way in terms of leadership. She was always pushing the other girls and she got more out of them than we would have.”

The Southern Section Division I player of the year and most valuable player of the South Coast League was also the outstanding field player at the prestigious Southern California Invitational tournament.

About the only award that Stachowski didn’t win this year was a Division I championship, something she has mixed feelings about.

“I’m kind of bummed we didn’t go all the way,” she said. “But our team played so well at the end.”

Midway through the season, the Cougars were 10-6 and had fallen from No. 3 to No. 9 in the Southern Section rankings. But the implementation of new offensive and defensive schemes helped the Cougars win 11 of their final 13 games.