After capturing the program’s first-ever Central Coast Section title, Aptos was looking to keep this season’s magical run alive.
Junior Adelaide Friedley recorded four goals to help lift the No. 2 seeded Mariners past No. 7 Marin Catholic, 7-4, in the opening round of the California Interscholastic Federation NorCal Championships Division III playoffs Tuesday evening.
“It’s never been done. I’m proud to be part of the team that even made it this far, and won the first CCS title in water polo history,” Friedley said.
Aptos is currently riding a four game win streak, including a 7-4 win over Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League rival Santa Cruz in the CCS D-II finals Nov. 16.
“I think our team has really good defense and I think everybody’s a tight family on this team, just encouraging,” Friedley said. “We started off the season a little rocky but I think we definitely put in the work and started doing well when it counts. I’m really proud of everybody and happy to be here.”
Aptos head coach Cody Gilbert also credited the defensive effort, which made up for some of the shots that were off target during the contest.
“I always tell the girls, there can be bad offensive days and bad shooting days, but no such thing as a bad defense day. A bad defense day is a bad effort day,” he said.
The Mariners won several of the sprints throughout the evening and pushed Marin Catholic’s counter attack, which gave the Mariners a more comfortable lead near the end of the game.
Bellame Breen, a junior, had a pair of goals in the first quarter that gave Aptos an early 3-0 lead.
But the Wildcats responded with three goals in the second frame, including two from senior team captain Emma Slaught that tied the score at 3-all going into halftime.
“I would just say we stopped moving as much, and it really starts to show when you stop driving because I think we’re definitely a drive offense,” Friedley said. “We don’t have a set center, so we just need to use our speed. When you start to get tired, we start to lose sight of that.”
Aptos’ defense also clamped down in the second half, conceding just one goal in the fourth period. Three second half goals from Friedley made the difference, while senior Adriana Santillano capped off the scoring with one goal in the fourth.
“We’re definitely a second half team,” Friedley said. “We kind of usually start off the first half a little slow. We have the endurance to always finish games.”
Aptos hosts No. 3 Rio Americano (20-11) of Sacramento in Thursday’s semifinals scheduled for 5pm. The Raiders—members of the Sac-Joaquin Section—are coming off a 9-1 victory over No. 6 Christian Brothers on Tuesday.
“This is a big first for our team,” Gilbert said. “This is uncharted waters for the Mariners. I’m really excited for them. Hopefully we can do our thing again Thursday night and make it to the championship game Saturday.”
So, what’s been the key to their success this season? You guessed it. Gilbert said the focus all year long has been defense.
“We started to beat teams that were seeded higher than us in our travel tournaments, and that was all through playing our good defense,” he said. “Having a really effective foul and drop defense is pretty much what we’ve been running. Opening it up and doing a lot more drives. This was one of the first games this season where my girls drew more ejections than they got ejected.”
Other players such as seniors Scarlet Gleitsman-Miller, Sophia Contreras and Santillano have stepped up on defense.
Prior to its success, Aptos went through a major change when Gilbert took over the program just as the season was about to begin. He stepped in for Cory Murphy, who is currency coaching at Leland in San Jose.
Gilbert said at first it was difficult to get the players used to his coaching style, but he’s lucky to have a group who quickly began subscribing to the program.
The Mariners finished the regular season with an 11-9 overall record, and placed second with a 5-3 record in the SCCAL standings behind champion Soquel (22-8, 8-0).
Despite losing to Soquel in the SCCAL postseason tournament, Aptos began to peak at the right time, which was Gilbert’s goal going into the season.
“I’m not a big X’s and O’s guy. I’m more so teaching water polo theory and heavy fundamentals,” Gilbert said. “I want my girls to be able to play flexible enough to when the opportunity provides itself, to take that moment.”
It took time for Friedley and her teammates to get adjusted to the new changes. She said once they began respecting each other and Gilbert, the team started to click. Nearly three months later, the Mariners might have the opportunity to play in the CIF NorCal D-III championship game.
“It was definitely a shock. We miss Cory so much, but we can still play the game,” Friedley said. “It was an adjustment but I think we pulled through and made it happen.”
