In the final league game of the season, the girls water polo team defeated Poway 19-10 to clinch the final game of the Palomar League championship. As the Palomar League was the final game before the team entered the CIF tournament, it was important to do well.
“Poway is usually one of our harder [competitors in the league]. They definitely offer a tough game for us,” Captain Kaia Wong (12) said. “To win, we had to really step it up and work together as a team.”
Wong scored nine goals to lead the team to a victory. She also helped the team secure the win by aiding in one assist. As this was the last regular-season game, Wong was especially appreciative of how far the team has come and how much the team was able to develop and grow together.
She has worked hard to return from an early-season injury, when she tore her ACL. This injury resulted in her needing to get surgery and physical therapy in order to get back into the shape she was once in. But Wong said that she was able to recover with hard work and determination.
“It was a great feeling to know that we have worked so hard together as a team throughout this season to have an end result that we could be proud of,” Wong said.
Wong is highly regarded among her teammates as a great player. McKynley McCulloch (10) said that ever since Wong has been back from her injury she has made a huge impact.
“Without her we wouldn’t have scored as many goals as we did,” McCulloch said. “Her positive attitude during the game helped us when we’re down after the first quarter [to win the game.]”
Alongside Wong, Captain Lauren Jennings (12) has stepped up and played center while Wong was out on injury. Together, they led the team to many victories and allowed the team to place first at the Palomar League after what they called a team-oriented win against Poway.
“Everybody made the decision to stay in the game, and focused on the final goal of winning rather than falling down and playing somebody else’s game that’s not ours,” Jennings said.
Beyond Wong’s nine goals, the remaining goals were scored by five players.
“People were being smart and taking good shots, showing why we are all there and what practice has shown,” Jennings said.
Jennings said the Wolverines are good at exposing the other teams’ weaknesses in defense, because their opponents are forced to focus their defense on one player. Despite their early-season weaknesses in these plays, Jennings said in this game the team did it a lot better than in other parts of the season.
She also said she appreciated her teammates’ adaptability during this game.
“A lot of athletes that found themselves in situations like getting posted up or having to do drive defense, where that’s not really their position, stepped up and did their job and kept us in the game,” she said.
As the two captains, Jennings and Wong must hold each other accountable and keep each other hyped up and feeling good about their skills through positive affirmations to set a good example for the team.
Wong also returns the positive affirmations to Lauren.
“Lauren does a great job in set and really works to get open for the ball [to take shots]” Wong said.
“[Wong] did a great job of getting open,” Jennings said. “She did a great job of getting shots off with the extra pressure [from the advanced defenders].”