Coach: ‘We Have Great Shooters, We Just Don’t Shoot Enough’
By Jack Danilewicz
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Del.icio.usUntil a few weeks ago, the relatively new Kalaheo girls water polo team could measure year-to-year improvement by the number of players at preseason tryouts.
The only thing missing was a signature win. That came March 13 when they beat perennial OIA contender Kapolei 4-3 in a riveting match that went into overtime at Veteran’s Memorial Aquatic Center. Kalaheo scored three goals in the final period to force the extra session.
While that was its lone win of the season heading into the weekend, it was still a big win, given Kapolei’s own rise in the sport over the past seven years. Kapolei was the OIA’s runner up in 2007 to Kahuku and has had a winning season every year it has fielded a team.
“It was a boost to our program,” said Holly Church, Kalaheo head coach since 2008, when the varsity program began.“The girls left that game on a high, and the water polo community at large recognizes that we’re making great strides.”
The early season has brought the league’s toughest opponents - Kahuku, Castle, Kapolei and Kaiser. With those out of the way, they now hope for a run to the post-season. The top four teams from each bracket qualify for it next month. Like other teams without an on-campus pool, Kalaheo is limited in preparation as it shares the Kailua District Park pool with Kailua High’s team.
“We’re not able to practice a lot on the counter-attack stuff, so that’s a challenge,“said Church, a former standout during her own playing days at UC Santa-Barbara and Live Oaks High School in Morgan Hill, Calif.
Progress has nevertheless been visible. They won only one game in 2008, but added four wins in 2009 and were an overtime loss to Castle away from making the post-season.
A solid senior class that includes Courtney Wemple, Kate Compagnoni, Angie Jenners, Emily Wadase, Kat Huihui, Sophie Bargiel and Brandy Samson leads the way this time. All seven have been together since the school’s first year of competition in 2008, and Church called all of them strong contributors.
From 14 players that year, they’ve grown to 20, and a total of 25 tried out this time.
Church rates Wemple as “one of the top goalies in our league.”
“She’s learned a lot in three years, and she’s gotten much stronger. She has good ability to react, and she communicates well with her team-mates. She’s one who leads by example.”
Compagnoni, Jenners and Wadase also are on pace for great senior seasons.
“Angie is one of our top scorers. Her strength is her determination - she never gives up. Kate is very fast in the pool and quick to see where the ball needs to go. She’s our fastest swimmer, and she swims year round.
“Emily is quiet, but pretty focused. She’s left-handed, which isn’t that common, and she works at improving every day.”
They return to action at 5 p.m. Wednesday when they meet Kailua at BYU-Hawaii, taking their usual defensive-minded approach.“Our goal for the rest of the season is to strengthen our defense so we can counter-attack out of that and score more on offense. Our defense has been better than our offense so far. We’re working on shooting more.We have great shooters - we just don’t shoot enough.
“What I’ve been most proud of is their ability to come together and play as a team. Against Kapolei, they made really good choices and good passes.When behind, they’ve still been positive.”
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