Arroyo Grande girls water polo wins 20th consecutive championship. ‘Quite an accomplishment’
When Arroyo Grande girls water polo sealed the Mountain League Championship in a decisive victory over Morro Bay on Thursday night, coach Steven Allen plunged into the pool right alongside his winning team.
It wasn’t the first go around for Allen. Thursday night marked his 20th consecutive championship in his long coaching career.
“I feel old for doing it for this long, but it’s been quite an accomplishment,” Allen told The Tribune after the win.
In those 20 years of dominance, the team is also undefeated in league play.
“We’ve had teams that have won in overtime,” Allen said. “We’ve had teams that have kind of had to learn through the year, and this group kind of just kind of epitomizes the next group (that) comes in and plays well.”
The Arroyo Grande team solidly defeated Morro Bay on Thursday night, with a final score of 15-5. Their win bumps up their record to 23-6.
The Eagles are currently ranked eighth in the state of California and ninth nationally.
The Eagles took early control of the game with two goals within the first three minutes. By the end of the first quarter, the team had scored six goals.
Berkeley Sinner, Eve Adamski and Sophie McGehee all contributed one a piece. Natalie Whitfield had three goals of her own in the first quarter.
Sinner and Whitfield, along with Bay Burnett, are all USA Water Polo All-Americans.
The Pirates made a push at the start of the fourth quarter where they scored all five of their goals, but the Eagles ultimately came out with the convincing win.
“This team is so young, it’s been quite a accomplishment for them to be able to step into the shoes of all these teams that are ahead of them ... and basically just insert the next group and continue playing well,” Allen said.
But according to Allen there’s no “special sauce” to the Eagles consistent success.
“Our group is consistent from year-round play,” he said. “We play water polo all year round. ... We’re trying to play against the best kids in the country, not just locally or even in California. Wherever there’s good water polo, we’re gonna find it.”
Consistency is the right word to describe the Eagles gameplay.
On Thursday night, the team communicated on both ends of the pool even when they were up by a considerable amount. Allen was still giving players pointers on how to improve even heading into the last quarter with the starters out.
“That second group that went in deserves just as much coaching as the first group,” he said. “So that’s kind of one of the things we really instill, is that eight, nine and 10 are just as important as the first seven.”
Allen said that attention to detail and not letting up is what has allowed the Eagles to maintain their success over the course of two decades and win four CIF divisional titles.
Last year, the team brought home a Division Two regional title for the first time.
“I’m very fortunate,”Allen said. “And hopefully this team will make a long run and see what happens.”