Los Gatos High girls water polo coach Don Appleton knows it’s not every year a person in his position inherits a team free of drama and egos.
That’s why he’s been effusive in his praise for the players as they’ve been a joy to coach from the start of summer conditioning to its current standing of first place in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League’s De Anza Division.
“I’m loving it,” he said. “We’re coaching athletic kids, but they’re also fun kids to be around. Practices have been a good time, sitting around tournaments have been a good time. We’re playing well and getting better, which is always a top goal. But we’re enjoying our time together and what we have, which is really what it’s all about right now after the long break not being able to play (due to Covid).”
Los Gatos entered the week at 16-2 after going a perfect 4-0 to win its own Tessa Joy Tournament. Although the team has been prolific scoring goals—it has put up double-digit goals in all but two of its matches—it’s the defense that starts the counter attacks and breakaway goals.
“It starts with the incredible kids in the cage,” Appleton said, referring to the top goalie combination of Jackie King and Lucy Holland. “We’re a defense first kind of team. They hold down our defense, and obviously when you have players like that you want to rely on them or you’re not doing your job.”
King is committed to Stanford and Holland with UC Davis, which makes for quite a dynamic of having two Division I commits playing the same position. The duo have split time in the cage, and Appleton has been pleased with how the standouts have supported each other as they usually rotate halves for playing time.
“Jackie and Lucy have been as consistent as they come, and you can tell in our goals against stat,” he said. “They approach every game like it’s a new game. Doesn’t matter if they’re feeling good or feeling bad, our goalies come out and do their job. They’re such mature kids and it’s been a lot of fun dealing with how they approach water polo. They do it with a real professional attitude, with no ego, no better than you mentality.”
Though King and Holland have played superbly, Appleton said the team’s improved up the middle defense has been hugely impactful in its success. He credits assistant Kenny Delp as doing a great job coaching up the center position players like Maily Isaacs, Zoe Frangieh and Lily van Putten.
“On paper, Kenny is an assistant coach, but we’re both kind of running the show,” Appleton said. “He’s been with me seven seasons and was the former head coach at Mitty. He’s been working with our centers quite a bit and they’re coming along nicely. They’re earning a lot of exclusions and starting to play a little more physically because they’re in better shape from the beginning of the season. They’re learning how to play a lot tougher and a lot of that has to do with Kenny. Individually, the girls are starting to recognize situations a lot faster which is making life a lot easier.”
Freshman sensation Karly Frangieh is the team’s top goal scorer, and her older sister Zoe along with Maily Isaacs and Mackenzie Lindholm have found the cage plenty of times as well. In a 12-5 win over Menlo School in the Tessa Joy Tournament championship match, Isaacs had four goals and Julia Ernsting had three.
Los Gatos was held in check offensively in its only two losses to Acalanes and Castilleja, and Appleton is optimistic that area of the team’s game will grow in time for the Central Coast Section playoffs.
“It comes down to the day,” he said. “I think we have the ability to beat anybody on any given day, but it’s about putting it all together and performing that matters.”
Sports reporter Emanuel Lee can be reached at el**@we*****.com
