The Malibu High School girls’ water polo team advanced to the CIF playoff semifinals on Saturday, the farthest any girls’ water polo team has ever gone in the school’s history.
The Sharks entered the playoffs after a remarkable regular season, capturing the Tri-Valley League championship with an undefeated record. They finished their regular season on a high note, defeating Cate School 23-2 on senior night and earning second place in the CIF-SS Division VI rankings. In light of their early success, the players know they have to stay focused in order to be victorious in the postseason.
“The intensity in practice and the commitment increased,” the Shark’s senior Searra Silverberg said. “All the girls have been here, and no matter what it takes, we are here to do it.”
In the first round of the playoffs the Sharks steam rolled Rowland 16-6. But despite the large margin of victory, the players had expected a battle.
“I thought it was going to be a lot closer than it was,” the Sharks’ junior Gianna Fote said. “It’s CIF, so we all had high expectations. We were pumped and nervous and we got off jittery, but once we got into our rhythm, we worked as a team and we did really well.”
The Sharks opened the game with a 2-0 run, finished the first quarter with a 4-0 lead and went into halftime leading 7-2. Even with the lead, Malibu Head Coach Tim Segesman warned the team about getting overconfident.
“I just tell them that this is CIF [playoffs], and anything can happen,” Segesman said. “You see games that get turned around, and if we can score five goals in a quarter, so can the other team. Anything can happen if you let your guard down.”
Silverberg, who finished the Rowland game with seven goals, has led the Sharks all season. Fote and senior Katie Rollins added three goals apiece, and sophomore Sophie Galate finished with two. Rounding off the Sharks’ 16 goals was sophomore Faith Brown, who scored her first career varsity goal.
In the second round of playoffs, Malibu faced a tougher opponent, Pacifica, but hung on to win 12-9. Despite taking an early 2-0 lead, the game was tied at halftime, 6-6.
The Sharks set the tempo early in the third quarter with a goal by Silverberg in the first fifteen seconds of play, and led at the end of the third quarter 10-8. Malibu was able to hold off Pacifica, and junior Reilley Lippman scored a goal with 24.3 seconds remaining to put the Sharks up by three.
As Silverberg held the ball to let the clock run out with less than 15 seconds to play, Pacifica’s coach sent a player to aggressively defend Silverberg. The player was ejected after repeatedly forcing Silverberg under the water while the Malibu crowd stood up and booed both the Pacifica player as well as the coach.
“That’s just bad sportsmanship, and there’s nothing you can do about it,” Silverberg said. “It makes me want to win, it makes me want to win the CIF MVP and go back and shove it in her face. I’ll take my [CIF championship] banner back to their school if I have to.”
With their victory, the Sharks advance to the semifinals; farther than any Malibu High School varsity girls’ water polo team has ever gone before. While the team makes history, Silverberg is confident of their chances.
“I see a group of girls that want it,” she said. “At the beginning of the season the drive wasn’t there, at the beginning of the week the drive wasn’t there, but we’ve come in wanting it more than anything, and as long as our hearts are in it, we have the best chance of any team.”
The Sharks played Chadwick on Wednesday, the outcome of which will be followed up in next week’s issue of The Malibu Times.