Northwood girls water polo team clinches CIF playoff berth with 6-5 victory over Woodbridge

Freshman Kaitlyn Kong takes a shot for Northwood during a PCL match.

After a tough back and forth game with Woodbridge, the Northwood girls water polo team ended up with the 6-5 Pacific Coast League victory Wednesday.

This game secured a .500 overall record for the Timberwolves and also solidified their top three finish in the Pacific Coast League, which means that Northwood (16-5, 5-2) is headed to the CIF playoffs for the first time in nearly a decade, according to Coach Kyle Kim-E.

Freshman Kaitlyn Kong led the offensive attack with four goals, while junior Hannah Miller scored two goals.

Freshman Mia Tomovic led the team defensively with three steals, while junior Sarah Buting had two steals. Freshman goalie Sanjana Venkatesh had six saves between the posts.

“First of all, I want to recognize our graduating seniors (in no particular order): Amanda Nguyen, Adrien Lee, Anika Chaukkar, Sophie Abraham, Aarya Koppikar, Barien Gad, Serousha Behtash and Alex Aramayo,” Kim-E said.

“Three seasons ago, they told me that their goal was to win one league game since that hadn’t been accomplished in the previous three years. And for the past four seasons (including this one), we have accomplished much more than that. To make the playoffs in their senior year, there is something poetic about it.

“It shows that all of their hard work paid off, but also they helped lay the foundation for what is expected out of the NHS girls water polo program. I will be sad to see them graduate, but I am proud of their development as both student-athletes and individuals. And I can’t thank them enough for sticking through all of the ups and downs that we’ve had since their freshman year, but I think they’re seeing how hard work pays off.”

Kim-E said the team is looking forward to the CIF playoffs.

“I’m ecstatic that our girls will be going to the playoffs this year,” he said. “It has been a long process for our girls program, but they have worked really hard this year. It’s also exciting to see how much young talent we have on our team.

“Our varsity team has five freshmen, four of which that start and we only have one senior starter. There is a lot of room for growth and I look forward to working with all of our girls to hopefully continue being as competitive and consistent as possible for many years to come.”