COMMERCE — At their tournaments this year, players on the Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team have set goals.
At first, the goals were to finish in the top eight, or top 16. But once CdM made the semifinals, the goal became a No. 1 finish.
After the Sea Kings made it to the semifinals of the biggest tournament of all — the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs — senior Carissa Dice had no reservations about that goal.
Dice walked down the pool deck at the Commerce Aquatorium Friday, passing Coach Aaron Chaney on the way to the locker room. CdM had just played one of its best games of the season, a 12-7 road win over Montebello in a CIF Division I quarterfinal.
The Sea Kings have an often-casual relationship with their coach. And Dice, the senior, had one last parting comment for Chaney.
“Hey, Chaney,” Dice said, turning around. “So you know, we’re playing two more games next week instead of one more game.”
The implication was that No. 2-seeded CdM would make it to the CIF final. The Sea Kings (23-6) still have one game left to win before accomplishing that task, Wednesday’s Division I semifinal against Foothill at Irvine High.
The Knights beat Los Alamitos, 6-3, in another quarterfinal.
Still, the prediction was hard to dismiss after the Sea Kings defeated Montebello (16-12) impressively in a difficult playing environment. The Aquatorium is a somewhat dark and humid indoor pool.
“It’s a lot different being indoors,” said CdM junior Heather Van Hiel, who had a goal, four assists and two steals. “The lighting is different, the sounds are different, the smell is different. You just have to adapt to it.”
But, for senior Allison Peotter, the adjustment process was really short. Peotter scored a game-high five goals, three in the first quarter, when CdM jumped out to a 4-1 lead.
“That [fast start] was a big part of this game,” Peotter said. “Each team in CIF is like a new team. We have to act like we haven’t played them before. We can’t expect them to come out the same way in their home pool. So if they’re not going to be the same team, then we’re not going to be the same team either. That was our mind-set.
“And,” she added with a smile, “we knew we wanted to practice next week.”
