It was a successful return to the pool for the Wilson girls’ water polo team on Monday evening at Cabrillo High, as the Bruins took down rival Poly, 14-1.
“It was fun, you can tell it’s been a long layoff but they swam well,” said Wilson coach Barry O’Dea of his Bruins squad. “Our centers looked good considering they hadn’t wrestled with anyone in a while.”
The Bruins feature a ton of talented freshmen and sophomores, but the evening belonged to senior Ava Bishop, who had a hat trick for Wilson in the first 2:06 of the game.
“I’m so grateful as a senior to be out here because I didn’t think I’d get to play again,” she said. “We have some really good freshmen and I didn’t think I’d ever get to play with them. I was in disbelief when I heard we got to play, I was so excited. I really thought it had ended a year ago, I didn’t want to get my hopes up.”
She had the Bruins’ hopes up with her three scores early, and finished with a team-high five scores. Bishop was backed up by Ava Smith’s three goals, and three from sophomore Maya O’Dea. Kaylee Stigar, Isobel Barbour, and Gabby Gillott added a score each.
Poly’s score came from Sienna Groves late in the first half with the Jackrabbits trailing 7-0. Kathleen Juarez’s shot rattled off the cage and Groves was there to put it in. Poly coach Brandon D’Sa was pleased with goalie Amy Leang’s play as well. He also said the game was about a lot more than the final score for his team.
“Look, nobody likes losing but just being able to play was a win, I think you could see how much it meant to our team to be out there today competing and having fun,” he said.
