Santa Barbara Stars Are Ready to Shine

The “Help Wanted” sign came down long ago at the Santa Barbara High pool. Ever since girls’ water polo was sanctioned as a Southern Section sport six years ago, hopeful players have practically stood in line to become a member of the Dons’ team.

While most schools north of Long Beach consider themselves fortunate to have a collegiate prospect in girls’ water polo every few years, Santa Barbara has continually produced blue-chip players and collected championship banners.

Santa Barbara has won four of the last five Division II titles and this season has occupied the top spot in the Division IV coaches’ poll since before the first game.

The Dons (13-2) are No. 5 in The Times’ rankings but will have an opportunity to improve on that when they host the fourth Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions today and Saturday at UC Santa Barbara.

That’s because the four teams ranked ahead of Santa Barbara are also entered in the 16-team tournament, as well as eight of the Southland’s top 10 teams and top teams from the San Diego Section.

Senior driver Molly Cahill is the latest in a long line of standout players at Santa Barbara. She is a member of the U.S. national youth team and signed with UCLA in November.

As a freshman, she played water polo and soccer but gave up the latter after breaking her ankle as a sophomore. Her worst water polo injury? A black eye, unless you count the fractured ankle from jumping off a bed last summer during the Junior Olympics in Moraga, Calif.

However, Cahill didn’t let her ankle prevent her from traveling to Australia a few days later with the U.S. national youth team for a five-game series.

“I waited until I came home to get the X-rays,” she said. “There was no way I was missing that trip.”

Preceding Cahill in the Santa Barbara talent pool was a former teammate, Lauren Boreta, the Division II player of the year last season who plays for NCAA champion Stanford.

Before Boreta came 2000 graduate Thalia Munro, a member of the U.S. national team. Munroe was preceded by Sarah Howell, a fifth-year senior for the California women’s water polo team, and Cassie Nichols, a former three-time All-American at Princeton.

“We’ve had some good athletes,” Coach Mark Walsh said. “Once we had some success early on, we were able to build on that. Now, when a young girl comes up through the local club system, there’s going to be a lot of interest in our program.”

Next season, Miranda Nichols, Cassie’s sister, is expected to be one of the top seniors in the Southland and to take over as the Dons’ leader.

Nichols, Cahill and their teammates are looking forward to a possible second-round tournament game today against No. 4 Santa Margarita. It would be a rematch of a semifinal from last year’s tournament, during which the Dons scored one of the biggest upsets of the season with a 7-3 victory.

Santa Margarita already earned a measure of revenge this season by beating Santa Barbara, 8-6, in overtime last month at Corona del Mar High, but the Dons like their chances at home.

“That’s the team we wanted to see out of the top four,” Cahill said. “We’ve played them already and know them pretty well.”

Walsh said the cupboard is beginning to look slightly bare at Santa Barbara, compared to the wealth of talented players he has coached since starting the program.

He recognizes that girls’ water polo is growing at a phenomenal pace, that another local powerhouse will likely emerge and that the Dons probably won’t be able to tread their way to Channel League titles in the coming years.

In last year’s tournament championship game, Santa Barbara lost to Santa Ana Foothill, 5-2, but that was nothing compared to the 7-6 loss to Ventura 10 days later. It marked the Dons’ first defeat in the Channel League, ending their league-winning streak at 37 games.

“It was probably the worst game I’ve ever played,” Nichols said. “Usually when we play a team from our area, we overlook them. We don’t get into [the game] and treat it like just another game.

“Now, we always have to remind ourselves what happened last year and be ready for anything.”

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(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Girls’ Water Polo

What: Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions

Where: UC Santa Barbara’s campus and recreation center pools

When: Today and Saturday. Championship game is 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the campus pool.

Today’s first-round schedule: Recreation center pool, 12:20 p.m. -- Newport Harbor vs. San Diego University; 1:10 -- Santa Ana Foothill vs. Riverside Arlington; 2 -- Santa Barbara vs. Irvine; 2:50 -- Corona del Mar Mar vs. Carlsbad; 3:40 -- Los Alamitos vs. Anaheim Canyon; 4:30 -- Villa Park vs. Coronado; campus pool, 4:40 p.m. -- Santa Margarita vs. Poway.

Fast facts: Eight teams in The Times’ top 10 rankings, including the top six, are entered. Santa Ana Foothill, the tournament’s defending champion, has not allowed a goal in its last three games. The Knights have reached the championship game all three years, winning twice.

Admission: Free.

Information: www.channel-league.org