Section title repeat bid falls short for Arroyo Grande girls water polo

Arroyo Grande girls water polo coach Steven Allen anticipated a repeat of last year’s Divison 3 finals weeks ago and had been preparing for the speed and counterattacks of Martin Luther King High all season.

When the two teams hit the pool Saturday in the CIF-Southern Section Division 3 final, Arroyo Grande got every thing it expected and much more. Martin Luther King took advantage of a poor shooting day by Arroyo Grande (24-6) and counterattacked to a 7-1 win.

Madison Stamen and Samantha Shaw scored three goals each for the Wolves.

“I thought we had a great first half, we were right in it, and then we struggled on the offensive end to score some goals and it kind of compounded on itself with their goalie playing really well,” Allen said.

MLK (24-7) scored three goals in the third period after leading 2-1 at halftime. Arroyo Grande outshot MLK 14-12, but MLK goalie Hannah McCarley made seven saves on the day while Arroyo Grande senior goalie Emily Sonny had four. Three shots from Arroyo Grande hit the post.

“They play great team defense, they got their hands up on everything and made every single shot difficult,” Allen said. “We got a lot of good looks and shots that would normally go for us didn’t and they were able to turn around and get a counterattack off of it.”

Last season Arroyo Grande defeated MLK 6-4 in the Division 3 final.

“To make the finals two years in a row, we were really happy,” Allen said.

Arroyo Grande has made three finals appearances during its past six years in Division 3.

When the season begins, the team will have another challenge — continuing its 128-game league winning streak. The Eagles will have to do so without the irreplaceable skills of Sonny — who will join the Arizona State water polo team next season — but it returns a lot of talent, including leading scorer Sarah Parson, who had the only Arroyo Grande goal of the game. Arden Taylor, Kate Empey and Amanda Bernard are the other seniors that won’t return.

With the new competitive equity rules going into effect next season, Allen anticipates Arroyo Grande will move up to Division 2.

“It will be extremely challenging,” Allen said of the leap. “But like I told the team at the end of the game, they have taken our program to another level.”

This story was originally published February 27, 2016 at 7:06 PM with the headline "Section title repeat bid falls short for Arroyo Grande girls water polo."