Los Alamitos High’s girls water polo team opened defense of their Sunset League title with a convincing 14-7 win over Edison on Jan. 4 at Newport Harbor High.
There was little doubt of the outcome early in the match as the Griffins jumped out to a 7-1 lead and led 11-3 at halftime. The Chargers were able to get some offense going in the second half, but could not mount a serious threat.
The Griffins are considerably less experienced than in the past few years, so head coach Dave Carlson was happy to see his team come out fired up for their first league match.
“I was very happy with the way the girls came out, I liked their attitude, their aggressive attitude,” Carlson said.
The Griffins (11-2, 1-0) have just three returning starters this year, but among those are some of the top players in the county, led by senior utility player Rachel Fattal and senior attacker Marley Delaney. Junior attacker Stephanie Mutafyan is a three-year varsity starter. The shortness of varsity experience has meant that the team has had more room for improvement than in recent years. The good news for Carlson has been an exponential amount of growth.
“So we’ve improved tremendously … and the girls keep improving,” Carlson said.
Much of the growth has been spurred on by the leadership of players like Fattal and Delaney, Carlson said. He said their work ethic has set the pace for the entire team.
The Griffins quick 7-1 lead after the first period against Edison was sparked by three goals by Fattal and two from Mutafyan. Fattal would add three more in the second period and finish with a game-high seven goals. Mutafyan finished with three goals, while sophomore attacker Ella Weber added two.
Early in the third period, after Edison had scored to cut the lead to 11-4, Fattal scored on a quick catch and shoot in front of the net off a long crossing pass from Delaney. In the second period Fattal also connected on a quick shot off a similar assist from junior attacker Shannon Crowley.
A few minutes later, Fattal scored from half tank as she fired a shot to beat the shot clock that put the Griffins up 9-1. Fattal said the key against Edison was the balanced offense. Five different players scored for the Griffins, including four in the first period when they were able to build a big lead on the Chargers.
“There’s a lot of movement, no one is sitting still, everyone is engaged in the game and what they should be doing, everyone is doing their job,” Fattal said.
The Griffins are playing Fountain Valley today at 7:10 p.m. at Newport Harbor in their second Sunset League game of the season. They will then play in the Santa Barbara Tournament over the weekend. Another key league game will take place on Jan. 18, at 6:05 p.m. against Newport Harbor at Newport Harbor.
