The first misstep of the season came at a bad time for the Palos Verdes girls water polo team.
After going undefeated through 27 games, the Sea Kings were tripped up by Alta Loma’s defensive effort, which forced them into passing mistakes and bad shot selections, and top-seeded PV wound up losing 10-7 at home Wednesday in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinals.
“(Alta Loma) is a really strong team and had a really impressive defense that caught us all off guard from when we last played them,” PV senior Jane Girard said. “I think when it came down to the line, they were really good defensively.”
Alta Loma (14-14) began the game aggressively, scoring on its first two possessions for a 2-0 advantage.
PV (27-1), which defeated Alta Loma 14-10 in December, closed out the first quarter with goals from Girard and freshman Kylie Nishimura to tie the score at 2-2.
The Sea Kings offense continued to attack Braves netminder Charlotte Winters, but the junior proved to be a solid last line of defense. Winter finished with nine saves, with six of them in the first half.
“(Winters) played outstanding,” Palos Verdes coach Zach Graper said. “She was locked down all game. We were getting enough looks, but she shut us down in the first half, and we were just struggling to find the back of the net.”
Girard scored PV’s lone goal in the second period.
“(Winters) played phenomenal,” Girard said. “Our team has a lot of really good shooters and I think today wasn’t our day. She was an absolute wall and I’m honored we were able to have this challenge.”
Normally a key piece of PV’s defensive unit, Girard was called for an exclusion foul on Alta Loma’s first possession. She was hit with her second exclusion foul midway through the second quarter.
Girard led PV with three goals and Nishimura had two.
“I definitely think it hurt, but caps off to (Alta Loma),” Graper said. “They had a great game plan. They keyed in on Jane and Abbey (Higgins) early and they were trying to get them into exclusion trouble.”
Alta Loma coach Kristin Rodriguez knew how potent PV’s offense could be, and she focused the Braves’ defensive effort on locking down Girard, Higgins and Rachel Smart.
“We know (Girard) is a stellar athlete, and we saw some other pieces,” Rodriguez said. “They have a lot of good players. So it was just identifying, trying to focus on their skill set and making sure we limited as much as we could.”
Alta Loma continued its defensive pressure in the third quarter, marking Girard any time she found her way in front of Winters. The Braves used two, three and sometimes four defenders to negate any quality shooting opportunity for Girard.
“Field blocking has been a really big piece of ours,” Rodriguez said, “and just having a presence in front of the goal and stepping off when we thought key shooters were getting the ball in hand. Sliding off and timing is something we’ve been focusing on.”
Girard’s third goal early in the third after she collected Ella Keene’s rebound and beat Winters, making it a 6-4 game.
Graper said Alta Loma’s senior leadership and strength of schedule were key factors in the Braves’ postseason play. Alta Loma won the CIF-SS Division 2 title in 2024 after winning the Division 4 crown in 2023.
“I think sometimes lacking adversity throughout the season can bite you during the playoffs,” Graper said. “We’re definitely looking at tuning the schedule to be a little tougher next year. (Alta Loma) has a very veteran group with a lot of seniors on their crew. Some of our youth and inexperience showed today.”
Alta Loma will be at San Clemente for the Division 1 semifinals on Tuesday.
In other girls water polo playoff games Wednesday:
El Segundo 7, Santiago 5: Ava Albertson led the Eagles with three goals, and Kendall Donahue finished with five saves to lead the Eagles to victory in the CIF-SS Division 2 quarterfinals. El Segundo (19-10) will host Murrieta Valley in the semifinals Tuesday at 4 p.m.
Murrieta Valley 10, Redondo 8: Audrey Bonelli and Finley Murphy scored three goals each for Redondo (18-8), but Murrieta Valley scored three unanswered goals in the third quarter to take control of the Division 2 quarterfinal.
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