The Los Gatos High boys water polo team has good reason to believe its best is yet to come.
That’s because one of the Wildcats’ top players, Lars Schubert, played in his first game of the season in a 19-5 non-league win over Woodside High on Sept. 27. The senior standout broke a finger in his right hand in mid-August, which sidelined him for nearly two months.
However, as Schubert makes his way back to what coach Davor Koret hopes is a full recovery—meaning Schubert is shooting with his dominant right hand instead of his left like he was against Woodside—the team will continue to ascend.
Even though losing Schubert for a long period of time was a blow, Koret said the team made the most of the situation.
“Missing Lars was like a double-edged sword,” Koret said. “Obviously, he’s one of our better players but on the other end his absence opened up a lot of room for the young players to get a lot of minutes, which will definitely help us by the end of the season. And now having him back will definitely increase our quality of defense and create opportunities on offense. I think we’ll be a completely different team when we face Palo Alto again (on Oct. 20).”
Los Gatos is looking up to Harker and Palo Alto in the Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division standings. Entering the week, the Wildcats were 5-2 in league play, just a half game back of both Palo Alto and Harker.
The Wildcats lost to Palo Alto 13-8 in the league opener on Sept. 6 and fell to Harker 18-10 on Sept. 22. Their rematch with Harker comes on their Senior Night on Oct. 13.
“They’re good, but I think we’re improving,” Koret said. “I think we’re right up there with them. Harker has a little more advantage and a deeper roster. But I don’t doubt that we can compete with them and Palo Alto.”
Koret said freshman Ryan Madsen and junior Connor Sullivan have been the team’s most consistent players thus far. Madsen is one of three freshmen on the team, and they all make an impact. Madsen and Mathijs Dirven are starters and Henry Bakota contributes quality minutes as a reserve.
Koret said the freshmen have come a long way since the season-opener against Palo Alto.
“They didn’t look as sharp in that game,” he said. “They looked pretty nervous and right now they look completely different.”
Madsen had three goals and Dirven two in the Woodside game. Junior standout Liam Amburgey and Sullivan had five goals each, scoring all seven of the team’s goals in a first-quarter blitz. Woodside actually scored the game’s first goal 32 seconds in before Los Gatos buried the visitors by scoring seven of the next eight goals.
Amburgey displayed an array of skills, scoring from close range, skip shots beyond five meters and on breakaways. Twice Amburgey beat Woodside down the pool before taking pinpoint passes from goalie Jake Cannon and going in for uncontested scores.
Sullivan also scored on breakaways and one-timers, a testament to his playmaking ability. He and Dirven displayed solid chemistry, each assisting the other on a couple of goals. Los Gatos’ depth was evident against Woodside.
Several players made quality plays, including when Jake Walton got a steal and delivered a nice pass that led to a Sullivan goal midway through the first quarter. Koret said sophomore Jacob Weber has been coming along nicely and there are high expectations for Dirven, who possesses enormous potential. Gregoire Leroy assisted on Schubert’s goal with three seconds left until halftime. Schubert made a nice move to gain separation from his defender before getting to point-blank range and scoring to make it 10-3.
Schubert practiced for the first time without a cast the day before the Woodside match, so he’s still using his non-dominant left hand.
“He’s one of our captains and a pool leader,” Koret said. “He’s one of our most experienced players so having him back will definitely be a great boost not only for the quality of the game, but also for all the guys because everybody loves having him around.”
Koret said for the team to reach another level it must improve defensively. Even though Los Gatos was clearly the superior team to Woodside, Koret wasn’t overly impressed with his team’s press defense at the start of the match or its zone defense for parts of the second half.
“It wasn’t at the level I wanted it,” he said. “I think we did some good things overall. We try to stay humble and try to stay on the same page regarding not flying way too far away from the ground because we still have a lot of room to improve. But it’s going to be a fun second part of the season for sure.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at [email protected]
