Last Line of Defense

Miriam Quintanilla wades through most of the myriad hazards of being a goaltender as if she were floating lazily in the shallow end of a backyard swimming pool.

“When it’s just me and the other player, I don’t get scared,” she says.

Shots to the head? They don’t faze Quintanilla, or others like her.

“It hasn’t happened once, it happens a lot,” says the senior goalie for the Pico Rivera El Rancho girls’ water polo team.

And shots to the face? They barely bother the best goalies.

“I’m pretty protective of my face,” Corona del Mar junior goalie Brittany Fullen said. “Once you take one to the nose, you sort of learn how to do it.”

Sprained or broken fingers, such as the one Santa Barbara junior goalie Brittany May has played with since the middle digit on her left hand was fractured on a shot by Santa Ana Foothill standout Jillian Kraus last month, also are shrugged off, because, as May said, “My hand just got in the way.”

Of all the perils inherent in their position, only opponents’ goals are not so easily dismissed.

“I definitely feel the weight on my shoulders if we’re losing,” Los Alamitos junior goalie Lauren Burke said. “I expect to play better, I expect to get up higher, to block that shot. It’s hard for me to play lower-level teams. I get embarrassed when they score.”

May’s feelings lean more toward guilt.

“When it gets really close, I feel like any shot that gets by, it’s my fault. I always apologize.”

As a group, however, this season’s strongest goalies seldom have anything to be embarrassed or feel sorry about.

Burke and Foothill senior Katy Krumpholz were named to the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions’ all-tournament team last weekend. May made 12 saves as the Dons won their own tournament over Newport Harbor, which also received strong performances from seniors Kim Housepian and Terin Cottam.

Corona del Mar’s Fullen and Santa Margarita senior Caitlin O’Connor have been considered among the best goalies in Orange County all season. Senior Bree Valbuena, the best player at Huntington Beach Marina, is next in a line of top Viking goalies after Sarah Mix, who is now at USC, and Candice Chick, who played at Long Beach State.

El Rancho’s Quintanilla posted three shutouts and allowed eight goals in five games to earn most-valuable-player honors in the Anaheim Western tournament two weeks ago.

Covina Charter Oak’s Heather Curtis is the centerpiece of the Chargers’ defense, and Kristen Davis has been unshakable for Villa Park.

Long Beach Wilson senior Niki Lolis recorded 13 saves against a barrage of Foothill shots in the third-place game of the Santa Barbara tournament, while Upland’s Allison Lucas and Riverside Poly’s Allison Romain played nearly to a draw in Upland’s 11-10 overtime victory in the seventh-place game.

“I don’t know that there’s one goalie that’s head and shoulders above the rest, but there’s a good group this year,” Long Beach Wilson Coach Tony Martinho said. “This year, the talent pool’s a little deeper, more widespread than last year.

“What you’re seeing is, in one game, there’s a girl playing out of her head, and then two games later, there’s someone else outdoing her.”

The situation contrasts sharply with that of last season, when former Foothill standout Emily Feher and Mission Viejo Capistrano Valley graduate Meredith McColl shared the spotlight only with each other.

“I think it’s difficult to find good goalies,” Corona del Mar Coach Aaron Chaney said. “I know when you find one, I don’t think people realize how valuable that is.”

Teams with good goalies have more options and tend to take more chances on defense and offense, relying on zones to protect the middle and force opponents to shoot from outside, and dispatching attackers to the offensive end more quickly.

“That Lauren is in the cage is such a huge comfort to us,” Los Alamitos’ Dayna Wawrzynski said of Burke. “It’s like a big load off our backs.... “

As a group, the best goalies are universally described by coaches as athletic and smart enough to read offenses and defenses, reacting correctly and nearly instantaneously. Often, they are team captains.

“Some teams only have one goalie,” Chaney said, “so they’re pushing themselves, and of course, there’s a lot of responsibility being the last line of defense. It’s a lonely position.”

Especially in the face of opposing players and incoming shots.

“It’s best to have the attitude that no one will score on me,” Burke said. “And if I do that, they probably won’t. That confidence is everything.

“It’s just that feeling you get before someone shoots the ball, like, ‘There’s no way they’re going to score,’ and then you block it. There’s no better feeling.”