It had been a while since the Homestead boys or the Cupertino girls reached the Central Coast Section water polo championships playoffs–a long while.
But that changed this year after the Mustangs and Pioneers made 2015 a season to remember on the pool decks of each school. They qualified for CCS Division I tournaments by winning Santa Clara Valley Athletic League El Camino Division championships. And each team capped their banner year with a CCS victory.
Homestead reached CCS for the first time since 2007, when current coach Sam Hyrne was a sophomore playing for the Mustangs. After going 13-1 in the regular season and 3-0 in the division playoffs, Homestead took a 21-3 overall record and the No. 10 seed into a first round match with No. 11 Willow Glen, the runner-up of the Blossom Valley Athletic League.
The result was an 8-6 victory, putting the Homestead boys into the second round for the first time since 1992. Davis Horeff, a 6-foot-4 left-handed shooter, powered in three goals and sophomore Zach Birrer scored two. Senior Paul Maier and sophomore Alex Zeren added one, as did junior goalie Jack Gregov, who surprised the visiting Rams with a length-of-the-pool shot that just beat the buzzer to end the second quarter.
The season ended in the Homestead pool two nights later on Nov. 12, as Serra of San Mateo scored a 16-9 victory.
The No. 7 Padres jumped out to a 5-1 lead in the first and took an 8-4 margin into halftime, before a 5-0 third period put the game out of reach for the Mustangs.
Maier paced Homestead’s offense with three goals, while Birrer and senior Miles Crawford scored two each. Horeff and junior Trevor Carpenter had one apiece.
Other contributors throughout Homestead’s 22-4 season included senior Tyler Hansen, junior Cole Brower and sophomores Alex Tsobanoudis and Taylor Pomeroy.
‘Tino in quarter’s
Meanwhile, Cupertino’s girls enjoyed success in their first CCS tournament since 2003. The Pioneers, who entered the tourney with a 19-1 record and the No. 8 seed, followed a first-round bye with a dramatic 16-15, overtime win over No. 9 San Benito.
Junior Anna Rajaratnam was nearly unstoppable, scoring goals on 13 of her 15 shot attempts, including the game winner that sent the Pioneers into a quarter-final bout with top seed Leland.
Senior Anna Tung scored two goals for Cupertino and senior Avani Vaid added one, as the Pioneers collected their 20th win of the season, extending their victory streak to 13 games.
Senior Laura Shkouratoff had six of the team’s 10 assists, senior goalie Romy Nguyen made 13 saves and Rajnaratnam had five steals.
Two days later, Leland blitzed Cupertino 8-1 in the first period and rolled to a 14-3 win. Rajaratnam, Tung and senior Tanya Chaudhary scored for the Pioneers, who finished the season with a 20-2 record under coach Jen Townsend.
Rajaratnam finished her junior season with 134 goals and 118 steals, both team highs, and 48 assists, second to Chaudary’s 65 assists. Chaudhary contributed 57 steals and senior Negin Khalili totaled 34.
Other team members included juniors Olivia Shearin, Rebecca Rodriguez, Josephine Robinson and Amy Chen and sophomore Kelly Sawyer.
Cupertino’s only other loss was against division rival Fremont, which finished second to the Pioneers in the El Camino Division with a 12-2 record. After splitting their regular season games, Cupertino beat the Firebirds 11-9 in the finals of the El Camino playoffs on Nov. 7, securing the division title.
Fremont also made the CCS D-I field, earning the No. 11 seed and a first-round match against No. 10 Woodside on Nov. 10. The Firebirds lost 8-2 and finished the season with an 18-7 record.
It was the final game for Firebirds seniors Carmen Steinmeier, Cora Beckwith, Ella Pinco and Noor Barghi. Other team members were sophomores Caley Mason, Christina Steinmeier, Taylor Aller, Erin Kaprelian and Brianna Fu and freshman June Vanderberghe.
