Back Bay girls make history
IRVINE — Before the biggest water polo game of their young lives, members of the Back Bay Water Polo Club 10-and-under girls team waited in the pool Tuesday at Woollett Aquatics Center.
Coach Dreason Barry asked Mia Bernhoit to lead a cheer before the opening sprint.
“Back Bay!” Bernhoit yelled as she and her teammates gathered in a circle.
“All the way!” the teammates responded.
After the game, the Back Bay team had made the cheer become reality.
Back Bay used a dominant defensive effort to blank Laguna Beach, 4-0, for the gold medal at the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics.
Back Bay goalie Isabella Rosensitto was named tournament MVP after she stopped everything sent her way in the final, making 15 saves. Ashley Wallin and Morgan Corcoran, who each had a steal, also led the defensive effort.
Elise Whitworth was a dominant center for Back Bay, scoring three goals, recording four steals and also drawing four exclusions and a penalty shot. Bernhoit had a power-play goal and added three steals.
It all added up to the first platinum bracket Junior Olympics title in program history for Back Bay (formerly Anteater), program director Jesse Briggs said.
The water polo levels varied for Back Bay. Rosensitto, Bernhoit, Whitworth and Wallin are more experienced. They are players who will also compete for the Back Bay 10U co-ed team in Session Two of the Junior Olympics, which begins Thursday.
“Our [girls’] team just got together like two months ago,” Bernhoit said. “We really didn’t have an all-girls team. It was a really good experience.”
Yet, somehow the girls’ team was cohesive, which also makes sense. Team members Rosensitto, Bernhoit, Corcoran, Geneva Paz, Emily Cloherty, Olivia Krotts, Alexa Raack and Caitlin Quinn have been swimming together for the Newport Hills Killer Whales since they were 5 years old.
“Sometimes we go from the swim meets to water polo,” said Rosensitto, who helped Back Bay get off to a strong start in the final by making five saves in the first quarter alone.
Kassandra Brien also contributed for Back Bay, which held Laguna Beach scoreless in six power-play opportunities.
“It feels really good,” Rosensitto said. “Our defense really pressed the offensive players a lot.”
Back Bay, which trains at UC Irvine, did not necessarily have an easy path through the tournament. The local girls lost their first game to Santa Barbara 805, 7-4. But they responded with five straight wins to make the finals. Those included a narrow 5-4 win over Laguna Beach and a 6-4 semifinal win against favored Riverside on Monday.
When they got to the final, Barry said his players were nervous and that he was too.
“I told them to use those nerves and those butterflies, and it’s going to be energy,” said Barry, the former UC Irvine men’s water polo All-American who was recently named the men’s and women’s water polo coach at Concordia. “[The nerves] are good; that means you’re excited. That means you really care about what’s going to happen.”
Barry also thanked his assistant coaches, Emily Varisco (who plays at Concordia) and Bobby McDonald (UC Irvine).
Back Bay also got good news as its 14-and-under boys’ team won the gold bracket title at UC Irvine Tuesday afternoon, defeating NSD Stars, 11-8, in the final. Contributors for the winners included Rishub Goel, Jonathan Lefebvre, Hayden Levecke, Connor McManigal, Kaveh Moaddeli, Shane Papa, Caden Strauss, Travus Plunkett, Tanner Pulice, Hayes Wueste, Logan Bernhoit, Tucker Blum, William Hanna, Anderson Todd and Jacob Hallman.
“I’m excited for the club,” Barry said.
