First look at Northwood girls water polo: Talented team out to defend PCL title

Northwood players and Coach Kyle Kim-E celebrate after winning the PCL title in February. (File photo courtesy Northwood water polo)

Northwood High’s girls water polo team is out to continue the success it had last season.

The Timberwolves captured the Pacific Coast League title for the first time and return most players from that squad, coached by Kyle Kim-E.

The team could open the season on Monday, Dec. 28 under the new CIF plan. Northwood has moved up from Division 4 to Division 3 for the CIF playoffs.

“Our girls team is returning from a historic season where they won the Pacific Coast League championship for the first time in school history,” Kim-E said. “We graduated a couple of valuable varsity starters in Hannah Miller and Sarah Buting, but see the bulk of our varsity squad returning which is real exciting.

“This includes all-league players Lauren Nguyen, Ella-Blue Wilmot, Kaitlyn Kong, Sanjana Venkatesh (All-CIF second team), and PCL MVP Valerie Wraith (first team All-CIF).

“Wraith (a sophomore) is undoubtedly our strongest athlete returning,” Kim-E said. “Despite her age, she has accomplished a lot of accolades already: she was the PCL MVP, first team All-CIF for Division 4, and scored 121 goals in 25 games. Expect Valerie to return with a similar workload as we will look to continue designing an offense around her.”

Venkatesh, a junior, has been the team’s starting goalie the past two years.

“She has immediately made an impact being an all-league and All-CIF-SS player both years,” Kim-E said. “We know that none of our systems work without Sanjana in goal. With 11.1 saves per game average, she is clearly one of the strongest goalies in girls water polo. She was one of our co-captains last year and I expect her to retain and build upon that role.”

Nguyen, a junior, is another key returner.

“Lauren is one of the toughest players I have ever coached,” Kim-E said. “She gets thrown in against some of our opponents’ biggest and toughest players but holds her own. We expect a lot from her, often going 2 to 2, but she is able to do all of it. She is one of our more versatile and well-balanced players.”

Kim-E also expects another big year from Kong, a junior.

“Kaitlyn has been a two year varsity starter for us and she is an extremely well-balanced player,” he said. “She has been sort of a secret weapon for the past couple of years but with the departure of Hannah Miller and Sarah Buting, I know that Kaitlyn is going to have to fill in on their side of the ball. I expect her to have a much more active role this year.”

Kim-E also expects big contributions from Wilmot, a sophomore.

“Despite her age, Blue came in and made an immediate impact for our varsity squad last year,” he said. “We haven’t had a starting lefty with the talent that Blue has, so we immediately went to work designing a system that fit in with her passing abilities. It resulted in an astounding 90 assists. I expect for Blue to continue this role, but to also expand upon it by getting her more shooting opportunities as well. I’m excited to work with Blue and have her step up into an even bigger role.”

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