Aptos senior Sofia Contreras last week missed her departure to go on a cruise ship with her family for a trip of a lifetime to Mexico.
Instead, she decided to spend the time with her Mariners girls’ water polo teammates as they continued their journey into the California Interscholastic Federation playoffs.
Talk about loyalty and dedication.
“It means a lot,” she said.
Contreras scored a pair of goals for No. 2 seed Aptos in a 9-7 victory over No. 5 Morro Bay in the Northern Regional Division III championship game in front of a hefty group of Mariners supporters who made the trek to Sacred Heart Prep in Atherton on Nov. 23.
“This is the furthest any of my teams have ever made it,” said Contreras, who transferred from Turlock to Aptos in February. “So, I was really excited to get to participate in this.”
Aptos head coach Cody Gilbert was awarded the coveted dark wood championship plaque but then immediately handed it off to Contreras and her teammates, who shouted and jumped for joy.
Gilbert, who played for the Mariners boys’ team from 2006-10, has been coaching at his alma mater since he graduated.
“Every single fall I’ve been there, working hard,” he said. “This feels really good to get for the girls. They definitely played the game that we’ve been practicing to have.”
Junior Adelaide Friedley finished with a team-best three goals for Aptos, which also captured its first-ever Central Coast Section title after defeating league rival Santa Cruz, 7-4, in the Division II championship match Nov. 16.
“It’s an honor, honestly, because we had never even won CCS in water polo history at Aptos High School,” she said. “Just making it all the way here, we had to take it one game at a time. Everybody did amazing. I’m really proud of everybody on the team. I’m really sad we’re gonna be losing some seniors, but I’m glad I got to experience it with these girls because I love them all.”
Aptos junior Bellame Breen notched a goal just before the end of the first period, while fellow teammate Riley Knudsen scored on a power-play situation in the second stanza. Contreras knocked in the first of her two goals that gave the Mariners a 5-2 lead going into halftime.
“[Morro Bay] started out the game really strong, really fast. Kind of choked us a little bit in the first couple minutes,” Friedley said. “They run a split up top, so they’re really fast at going and countering.”
After making adjustments in the locker room, Morro Bay came out of the break with a bit more intensity in the pool. They were awarded a penalty shot that senior Ava Beckett took and made, cutting the deficit at 5-3 in the third period.
“[Beckett’s] a really strong shooter, so we had to make sure our best players were always covering her and making sure that she wasn’t gonna just pull a shot out of nowhere,” Contreras said.
Aptos continued to hang on to a two-goal advantage until both Friedley and Contreras knocked in their second goals of the day, putting Aptos ahead at 7-3.
The Mariners’ stifling defense also came alive in the second half, shutting down scoring opportunities for the Pirates deep in Aptos’ territory.
Contreras came up with a critical steal and passed it to Friedley, who recorded her third score of the game. Senior Adriana Santillano’s goal off a penalty shot essentially wrapped up the championship for Aptos.
“If we’re not pressing to steal the ball and the other team is just sitting wide open in the center then they’re gonna keep scoring on us,” Contreras said. “It’s important to be pressing out constantly to make sure that they’re not getting the ball in the goal.”
Beckett ended Morro Bay’s scoring drought with a penalty shot in the fourth. In the midst of the final two minutes, the Pirates had initially scored another goal.
However, the goal was negated when referees ruled an Aptos player was not properly waved in from the penalty box, which deemed it a dead ball.
Morro Bay head coach Ryan Davis contested the ruling in the pool, questioning the referees but the call was upheld.
“It was a legitimate rule,” Gilbert said.
The Pirates managed to pull within two at 9-7 but there was a mere 30 seconds remaining in the game, leaving little to no chance of forcing an overtime period.
“It got a little stressful, they started running back on us in the third quarter,” Gilbert said. “That definitely wasn’t what we were anticipating, but when it comes to championship games, everyone’s just playing with everything they got.”
It was the second time Aptos, which finished with 20-10 overall record, defeated Morro Bay this season after picking up a victory during a travel tournament in Pismo in October.
Going into last weekend’s NorCal championship match, Friedley said they focused on both winning and having fun because it might be the only time they get to experience something like it.
“Soak it up,” Friedley said. “Finally, even water polo at our school is getting recognized. Nobody knew it was a sport before that. It’s really fun to experience all this.”
Contreras said there were moments at the beginning of the season where they showed signs of fear and doubt. Aptos had to cut their junior varsity team in the middle of the season, which meant several players didn’t have tons of playing time.
Then they got off to a rocky start when Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League play began, losing to Santa Cruz in the league-opener.
“Every game with Santa Cruz is really nerve wracking,” Contreras said. “After the second time we beat Santa Cruz, we knew we had it locked in and we were ready to go as far as we could.”
Friedley added she’s proud of her teammates for making adjustments throughout the season, including a coaching change days before the season was about to sprint off.
“We definitely had some bumps in the beginning of the season, but we definitely peaked at the end, and learned how to work together as a team,” she said. “I’m just really thankful that we had so many people supporting us even from home. It was a big deal.”
