If looks could kill then Los Gatos High senior Lily Van Putten would’ve burned a hole through one of the players on the Castilleja girls water polo team in their Santa Clara Valley Athletic League De Anza Division match on Sept. 27.
Van Putten had just scored a goal on said defender but immediately glared at the player in question after being on the receiving end of a rather painful scratch. Whether the scrape was over the top or simply a matter of being a hazard of the sport, Wildcats coach Don Appleton said the most important thing was that Van Putten kept her cool even when she could’ve blown a gasket.
“Lily wasn’t happy, but Lily has grown up quite a bit,” he said. “There’s some games she gets really frustrated, and today was a day where she didn’t let that show. She got hammered a few times and she stuck with the game plan and made sure she was making the best choices for the team. She is one of our more physical players and we need that kind of presence in the pool when you have such a young team. So she did a really good job of walking that line between being a real physical player and knowing the difference between physical and finesse and when to use each attribute.”
The ability to stay mentally tough and disciplined propelled the Wildcats to an impressive 11-6 win over their closest competitors to a second consecutive league championship. Both teams entered the contest with undefeated division records, but Los Gatos showed its superiority by never letting the Gators in the match.
The Wildcats led 5-3 after the first quarter and Castilleja never got closer the rest of the way. Van Putten had a game-high four goals, and Abby Lockman, Ella Ralston and Karly Frangieh had two goals each and Karissa Elliott one.
Julia Ernsting made a terrific play to end the opening quarter, warding off a defender before delivering a nice pass to Ralston in front for a score. Entering the week, Los Gatos had an overall record of 13-1, with its only loss to a Clovis team that is ranked No. 4 in the state by MaxPreps.
It was a match that the Wildcats led 6-3 at halftime, only to fade a bit. Appleton said playing Clovis and a couple of other tough teams in the Woodcreek Invite (Sacramento area) Sept. 23-24 served a valuable purpose because of the rough and tumble nature of play that characterizes that particular region.
“It’s a little more physical of a game out there and it’s also the referees and the way they call the game is a little different as well,” he said. “We made the adjustment, and those are the games we want. That’s why we go to those tournaments.”
Appleton said the tournament got the team ready for a tough Castilleja side. What made Los Gatos’ win all the more impressive was it did it without the services of one of its best players in center Maily Isaacs, who suffered a concussion during the Woodcreek tournament.
“Maily is usually good for two to three goals a game and has a lot of experience on defense,” Appleton said.
With the absence of Isaacs, enter Lockman, who stepped up and played a disciplined game.
“Abby played smart and she played tough,” Appleton said. “She got drilled a couple of times and she bit her lip and stuck with the game plan, so I’m super proud of her there.”
First-year varsity goalie Rachel Stephens has been strong in the cage a season after the program graduated two Division I goalies. Despite being smaller in stature, Stephens has shined.
“She’s not a big goalie so she has to play a more aggressive, out of the cage type of game and she’s doing a real good job of that,” Appleton said. “She’s coming up with a lot of steals that are helping us move forward.”
Indeed, whenever Stephens had the ball, she was always looking to make a long outlet pass down the pool. A couple of times, her passes led to goals by Frangieh, who is one of the fastest players in the section and is coming off an appearance in the CIF State Swimming Championships last spring.
Frangieh has been a goal-scoring machine and utilizes her speed and ability to swivel and change directions to juke defenders to get herself in prime scoring range.
“Karly knows her game plan and we’re lucky to have one of the fastest kids in the section,” Appleton said. “She is keeping us in games and a kid with that kind of speed having that two or three goal cushion almost guaranteed every game is a huge help.”
Van Putten did a ton of work in the off-season and it’s paid off.
“Lily has supreme confidence in her scoring and shooting (ability),” Appleton said. “And now we’re really finding that line where she’s using her confidence to put herself in goal scoring situations and how she’s also learning to be a distributor in those situations. Because when it comes to the postseason, it’s not just about one kid who can go and get it done. And we’re lucky we have more than one kid, but now Lily is learning those situations on when she needs to take the initiative, on when she can be the goal scorer and when she can be the distributor as well.”
Appleton takes pride in the team’s defense and to that end it utilized a new drop defense against Clovis which prepared Los Gatos to face Castilleja’s standout player, Sydney Lowell, who earned De Anza Division Field MVP honors last season.
So, even though the Wildcats have a sparkling won-loss record, Appleton focuses on the daily process of improvement.“I really don’t care about the wins and losses right now,” he said. “I mean, don’t get me wrong. Winning is great, but the improvement we’re seeing out of these girls every game is big. It’s a double-edged sword when you have this much success early, especially when it comes to league stuff. So, we’ve done the work so far but we can’t be riding on past performances—we need to keep improving.”
Sports editor Emanuel Lee can be reached at [email protected]
