APTOS >> Soquel High coach Ryan Chapatte started game planning for Thursday way back in November, before the pain of losing the Central Coast Section Division II girls water polo championship had even begun to subside.
“With the way we ended last year and looking at what we had coming back, I couldn’t wait for fall,” Chapatte said. “I couldn’t wait to get started.”
His players apparently felt the same way.
Playing their first match of the 2015 season — as well as their Monterey Bay League Gabilan Division opener — against Aptos at Cabrillo College on Thursday, they already seemed to be in championship form. Senior Rachel Edmonds scored on their first possession and the Knights began their MBL-G title defense by cruising to a 14-1 victory.
It was also their first match toward a potential program-first CCS crown.
“We are so excited and Ryan has been constantly talking about how the training doesn’t start the week before CCS, it starts now,” senior 2-meter defender Vivi King-Adas said. “So we need to start now.
They didn’t waste any time. Senior Taylor Thorson, the 2014 MBL-G MVP, hurled in a team-high four goals in 10 minutes and fellow senior Natalie Linneman added a pair of goals. Freshman Shea Salvino, one of the few newcomers on a team that returns nearly everyone from its 2014 campaign, made a good first impression with three goals of her own.
The Knights led 8-1 at the half.
“I wanted us to come out and play to our potential,” said Chapatte, the 2014 Coach of the Year. “I’m happy that they came out and played sharp. We scored on a lot of passes, which is something we emphasized early this year.”
A young Aptos squad drew the short straw in the league schedule by facing an eager and ambitious Soquel team straight out of the gate.
Kiegan Le scored the team’s only goal with about two minutes left in the first half. Keeper Savannah Smith made 10 saves in three quarters of action, while Desiree Guzman added another three in relief.
“There’s so much to go over with a younger team like this that this came up on us kind of quick,” said first-year coach Mark Knapp.
Still, Knapp took a positive approach to the match. No team would be better at exploiting the Mariners’ weak spots than Soquel, he said. And if Aptos learns from the experience, it just might give the Knights a closer match the second time around.
“I’m proud of my girls. They never gave up,” he said. “At the same time, I told them not to accept losing like this.”
The teams play again at Aptos on Oct. 1. Up next though, Aptos hosts Santa Catalina and Soquel plays at San Benito — the 2014 league runner-up — on Tuesday in MBL-G action. All matches are at 6 p.m.
Contact Julie Jag at 831-706-3257.