Charles Rich
LA CANADA FLINTRIDGE -- Their growing pains spanned four years.
The Flintridge Prep girls' water polo team had fallen victim to its
share of lopsided losses and a near miss in last year's CIF Southern
Section Division III playoffs. What the Rebels hadn't recognized was that
their checkered history would strike the right chord this season.
Flintridge Prep captured the program's first-ever Prep League title
Friday with a 6-5 victory against visiting Chadwick. The Rebels (19-3,
12-0 in league) received two goals apiece from Amy Thomas and Miriam
Anthony to hand Chadwick (14-9, 10-2 in league) its only two league
losses in the three-year history of its program.
Fighting off some early-match jitters Friday, Flintridge Prep used
three goals in the final 100 seconds of the second quarter to withstand
Chadwick, the defending two-time league champions.
Flintridge Prep, which clinched a share of the title with Wednesday's
18-9 victory against Westridge, will make its second trip to the
postseason next week.
"Being co-champions would have been good, but not the best," said
Flintridge Prep junior goalkeeper Allison Maginn, who finished with 10
saves. "This will put us in a position to be a good seed for the
playoffs. Winning the league title says that we have come a long way with
hard work. We started back as freshmen and we continued to get better.
"This match was nerve-racking. My hands were jittering and my heart
was pounding. We expected a close game."
The matches fulcrum occurred early in the second quarter when Maginn
foiled three point-blank Chadwick shots with the Rebels trailing, 3-1.
Maginn's saves ignited Flintridge Prep's offense as Anthony scored a pair
of goals to give the Rebels a 4-3 halftime lead.
First-year Flintridge Prep Coach Stephanie Stephens, who helped
Occidental College win the Collegiate III nationals last season, said the
Rebels had the right ingredients to compete for the league crown.
"When I came here, I didn't know the caliber of our team," said
Stephens, who succeeded Rob Tucker. "Then we beat California Academy of
Math and Sciences in that first league match and I became optimistic. I
can't describe how it feels to win league."
Flintridge Prep defeated Chadwick, 6-5, on Jan. 16.
Chadwick Coach Mitch Yamamoto said the Dolphins made several mistakes
after building a 3-1 lead in the first quarter.
"We over passed our hole/set several times and that killed our
momentum," Yamamoto said. "Flintridge Prep is a much more aggressive team
and I think that is because of their coaching."
