LJ g water polo: Game story 12/5

Junior Taylor Goldstein (9) scores to open

the second quarter and a 5-0 lead

against LCC in front of a defender.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

It is early in the season, and La Jolla coach Tom Atwell is still trying combinations to see who will work when.

True to his word before the game, the 25th-year coach--fresh off a CIF Open title with the Viking boys team--employed several of his four freshmen alongside upperclassmen as they faced La Costa Canyon in the afternoon game on day one of the Rancho Bernardo Tournament Fri., Dec. 5.

"I want you to press the first three minutes and score some goals (quickly)," Atwell told his players, assembled on the edge of the pool at the back of the RBHS campus.

Five different Vikings scored as La Jolla swam out to a 6-0 lead in the shortened first quarter (six minutes for tournaments) and a half minute into the second period. Avery Edstrom, Cora Pfau, Alicia Lopez Vargas, Taylor Goldstein, and Carys Villano--a freshman who started--netted goals against the overwhelmed Mavericks.

The only "impact" player who LJHS relies on to score who didn't in the early moments was junior Avi Cavaiola, who missed left on a penalty shot with 15 seconds left in the opening stanza.

Asked before the game where La Jolla is in its program development, Atwell said, "I'm not sure. Cathedral Catholic is much better than last year." He wasn't making predictions, considering the tight competition among the "big three", La Jolla, Bishop's, and the Dons. But he is optimistic and enthused over his incoming crop of 9th-graders added to five seniors.

Later in the second quarter, Kate Morgan scored for a 9-0 lead, after Pfau's third goal in under 10 minutes.

Another Viking freshman, Zoe Griffis, went on the attack midway through the third quarter to score her first goal.

LCC didn't score its first goal until a minute into the second half, on a penalty shot by Delaney Daniels.

Cavaiola, contributing other ways, finally scored herself with 3:53 left in the game. By then, it was 16-1 in favor of La Jolla, and the 7:10 p.m. game against El Camino was moving into their sights.