If there is one aspect (defense) that would be considered key (defense) to the success (defense) of this year's boys' water polo team (defense) at Northwood High school, the answer is clear.
Ask first-year coach Chris Murin, and you hear it over and over again.
That's right, it's defense.
Northwood is off to a good start to the season, winning two of its first three games. Murin has come to Northwood to coach both the boys' and girls' teams after coaching previously at Palos Verdes High, and he immediately went to work to change things around, focusing on defense and the counter attack.
"We want to be a defense-oriented team," said Murin, 38, who guided the Palos Verdes boys to a CIF Southern Section Division 4 title in 2009 and the PV girls to a CIF Division 2 title in 2010. "So we spend a lot of time talking technical defense, going from press to a zone. Those are things we're working on."