Women's water polo ready for Wednesday home opener

Excited to finally see a team wearing a non-Delta cap the Mustangs women's water polo team opened up their season on Saturday with a pair of wins as they defeated Foothill 8-6 and American River College 13-6.

Originally scheduled to start the season on August 28th they had to wait an extra two weeks to play and that wait seemed like a long one for a team anxious to get the season going."You can only scrimmage yourself so much," said head coach Nathan Varosh during practice last week. "They have been doing such a great job and they just want to play a game against someone else."

While expectations are high for the team to have a great season they also have not tried to look too far ahead. "You just don't know what can happen and anything can happen," said Varosh who pointed to their games being canceled because of air quality as an example. "We have adopted the motto one day and one week at a time. If we can stay healthy we will for sure make a run into the playoffs"

With several "super sophomores" back including All-American Camryn O'Neal in goal the expected strength of the team to start the season will be on the defensive end. O'Neal had six saves in the season-opening win.

"I would say we are going to hold a lot of teams to under ten goals and that's going to put us in a position to beat a lot of teams," said Varosh who was proved correct in the first two games of the season as the Mustangs allowed just six goals in both games.

Also back from two seasons ago Mackenzie Lincoln and Lizzy Macfarlane wasted no time in scoring two goals apiece in the come from behind season-opening win over Foothill as the Mustangs trailed 3-1 at halftime before outscoring the Owls 7-3 in the second half.

"They have already played so many games at this level," said Varosh about the amount of returning players from two years ago. "They know what to expect. They are guiding and teaching those younger newer players. That's invaluable to have that many girls with that much experience. They came off a deep playoff run already so they are hungry and want to get there again."

Excited about the new group of freshmen as well it includes Sophia Schwartz who joined the team from Texas and could be one of the best shooters that Coach Varosh has ever had in his entire coaching time at Delta. Schwartz was held scoreless in the season opener but did have a team-best five steals in the win and then followed that performance with three goals and two assists in the final game of the weekend.

They will play their home opener on Wednesday, September 15th at 5:00 pm against Sacramento City.