PREVIEW: The girls’ varsity water polo team looks to have another successful season after winning CIF last year.
By Franklin Racobs, Staff Writer
Winning CIF is a goal that all of Poly’s sports teams strive to achieve. Last year, girls’ varsity water polo met that goal. After winning the 2013 CIF Southern Section Championship, Poly’s girls’ water polo program reached a total of four CIF titles, all of which were accumulated over the past six years.
The formula for repeated success is something that all sports teams struggle to find, proving to be even more difficult for high school teams. Student athletes constantly try to find a balance between academics and sports throughout each school year. Students also have to graduate at a certain point, posing a threat to team strength and leadership.
The girls’ varsity water polo team lost five seniors at the end of last season: Jacqueline Bywater, Julie Swieca, Maddie Knust, Keana Eldridge and Shelby Barkley. All five were a strong part of the starting squad of seven, and according to field player Sarina Briseno (12), this year the girls are going to have to be “working harder to win games’’ in order to make up for the seniors they lost.
The girls’ water polo team is well aware of what they need to do in order triumph as they did last season. “We have to work ten times as hard as we did last year,” water polo athlete Hannah Rodriguez (11) said.
Although repeated success is something that the girls’ team wishes to attain, the kind of achievement they look for may not be the same as last year’s championship win. This season, the team is looking to play well by winning league but is expecting this year to be one of development for next season.
If the 2014-2015 season does end up being a building year, it will still make for an exciting season to see the team aim for another league title.