Saratoga News

Sports

West meets West, and the Vikings win state polo title

By Greg Lydon

West Valley College didn't have a home pool all year long, but the Vikings do have a state water polo championship.

Running into undefeated Golden West College (32-0), a team that had beaten West Valley four different times earlier in the season, didn't phase the Vikings. A 12-8 win over No. 1 seed Golden West in Fresno sealed the deal--the fifth state title in 10 years for the West Valley men's water polo program.

"We've won five titles since I've been here," West Valley head Bruce Watson said. "The first one is always special, but this one means just as much because of the adversity this group faced throughout the season."

With the aging West Valley pool getting a facelift, the water polo team was left scrambling to find a place to practice, let alone play home games. The entire 2007 schedule for West Valley was played on the road. The team split time between the Monta Vista and Lynbrook high school pools over the past couple of months, holding 6 p.m. practices.

"Not everyone on the team has a car," Watson said. "We had a group that found ways to get to whatever pool we were playing a match at and never missed practice. That's why winning the whole thing feels so good--this group worked hard to get to Fresno."

After taking home the conference championship, the West Valley group headed into NorCal action as the No. 1 seed. The Vikings dispatched Cabrillo in the opening round before rolling past Santa Rosa 15-7 to start their postseason push.

"We started getting things going in NorCals," Watson said. "We had an impressive win against Santa Rosa, which was good for us heading into the state tournament."

The state tourney featured the top three teams from Northern and Southern California in a two-day tournament in Fresno.

According to Watson, the depth of talent comprised on the three teams in Southern California usually adds up to being very equal to the top team in Northern California.

After a first-day win following a bye in the opening round, the only thing standing in the way of a state title was Golden West.

In the first meeting this season between the two teams, Golden West prevailed 9-8, and in the last meeting the Vikings had fallen 10-8. The two games in the middle were more lopsided wins for Golden West.

"We saved some plays on offense in case of ejections and on defense just for the possibility of seeing them again in the state final," Watson said. "I told my guys to focus on the first and last meeting. I knew we could play with that team, we just needed to get out of the gates a lot better than we did in previous meetings."

West Valley shot out quickly, leading 3-0 after one quarter, to get things moving in the right direction. Sophomore goalie Casey Regehr recorded 13 blocks in the title game, helping his team capture the title along with taking home the Most Valuable Player honors in the tournament.

Sophomore Jason Kochel and freshman Matt Golden each scored three goals in the title game, putting up half of the offensive output needed for West Valley to hold off Golden West 12-8.

Kochel and Golden received all-tournament team honors for their play at state.

"Our goalie played great and our group really dealt with a tight game called by the refs," Watson said. "They kicked our guys out 17 times and Golden West was only kicked out eight times, but we stayed the course and did enough to get the huge win for this program."

The West Valley squad only loses four sophomores from this year's team--the bad news is that two of the four are goalies. All four players are currently being recruited by Division I schools to play water polo.

"All four will play water polo in college next season," Watson said. "This group will be dangerous again next season. I just need to go find a goalie."