After a 13-5 start to the season, CHS boys’ water polo is setting its sights high.
¨It’s been a good year,¨ varsity coach Aaron Gaily says. ¨They’re growing every week and getting better every week.¨
According to Gaily, most of Carmel’s losses so far have been to the toughest teams and had nail-biting endings.
Senior captain Brett Luch sets up for a long shot. The ODP acceptant has 97 goals so far in the 2014 season and was accepted to training sessions at Brown.
It is clear Carmel does not like to lose, and the boys have set quite a standard of scoring more than conceding, with wins such as whopping Stevenson 20-12 or Monterey 15-2.
Though a young team with only four seniors, Carmel has dominated in the pool with brilliant teamwork.
“We’re really good as a team in general,” junior Stefano Ventura says. “Some teams have more size than us, but we have a lot of speed, and we’ve played together for a while so our unity is pretty bomb.”
“Compared to last year this team has a lot of chemistry, and that’s one of the biggest factors,” sophomore Kevin Auger comments.
Junior Wyatt Milne takes a shot on goal from the center of the bool. Milne has a striking 20 goals in seven games of the regular 2014 season.
The team also wants to add a couple more trophies to the shelf, and they’re setting their goals now.
“By far our biggest goal is to win league,” senior captain Brett Luch says. “I think that’s basically the standard we’ve set for the program over the last few years. A nice secondary goal would be to make semi-finals of CCS. That’s something the Carmel team has never done, and it’d be cool for me personally to leave doing something Carmel has never done
“We really are just trying to improve the best we can so that we’re playing at our peak ability when the league championship tournament starts that first weekend in November,” Gaily says. “We’re shootin’ for a league title every year.”
The water polo boys are undoubtedly dedicated to the sport even in the off-season.
This September, Luch, who has a stunning 97 goals so far in the 2014 season, was invited to train with Brown University in prospect of joining their team his freshman year of college.
“I had a good time,” Luch says. “NCAA rules are that I can’t practice or play with them, so I just got to watch, and I don’t like watching, but it was fun. Hopefully it’ll work out. We’ll see.”
Junior Wyatt Milne and seniors Evan Probasco and Kaden Coombs have had their own experiences outside the high school arena, attending Olympic Development Program training sessions in the Bay Area.
“Each day you are in the pool for six hours,” Probasco says. “These players are very good and are some of the best in California. It’s also a political system where big names will make it over hard workers.”
From Oct. 10-11, Carmel placed second at the Aptos Tournament.
In regular season, they defeated Aptos 17-7 on Oct. 14, and on Tuesday, Carmel lost to Soquel 17-11.
Carmel will host Saint Ignatius, Junipero Serra, Palo Alto, Leland, Archbishop Mitty and Homestead on Friday and Saturday in the Padre Invitational Tournament.
-Daniel Orlov
