PHOTOS: Northwood water polo team captures championship at Chino Hills Tournament

Northwood’s water polo team captured first place in last weekend’s tournament. (Photos courtesy Maki Abshier).

Northwood High School’s boys water polo team captured first place in the Chino Hills Thrills in the Hills Tournament with wins over Ramona (San Diego), Fullerton, Burbank and Chino Hills over the weekend.

The Timberwolves (8-2 overall) are ranked No. 10 in the CIF Division 2 poll.

Senior co-captain Michael Abshier was named the tournament MVP while junior Dean Witt and sophomore Alex Chin earned all-tournament honors, according to Coach Kyle Kim-E.

The Timberwolves improved their record to 8-2 overall and are ranked 10th in this week’s CIF Division 2 poll.

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Alex Chin pumps and takes a shot for Northwood.

Dean Witt of Northwood looks to steal the ball.

Northwood's Michael Abshier gets ready to take a shot.

Brandon Bui takes a shot for the Timberwolves.

Sidney Francisco De Paula Jr. of Northwood gets up for a save.

Noah Villanueva of Northwood defends against a backhand.

The Timberwolves' Ethan Chen makes a quick pass for an assist.

Trevor Cheng looks to make a pass for Northwood.

Gavin Dang takes a quick shot for the Timberwolves.

Shervin Shahriary makes a pass into set for Northwood.

“I’m proud of the guys for their efforts this weekend,” Kim-E said. “Although we had some struggles on Friday, it finally looked like things were starting to click for us on Saturday. It’s always nice when we see the things that we work on in practice pay off in games.

“This year, our team is led by senior Michael Abshier, who was named a third Team NISCA All-American. And we also have a lot of guys stepping up on offense like junior Dean Witt, junior Gavin Dang, and sophomore Brandon Bui. On defense, so far, we have sophomore Alex Chin playing big minutes as a set guard and sophomore Sidney Francisco De Paula Jr. doing well as a goalie.”

Kim-E said he has been impressed with the efforts his players have put in. 

“Our team is a young and less experienced varsity roster compared to teams I’ve had in the past but this is definitely one of the harder working teams I’ve had,” he said. “I know that this is a very talented group, so I have been pushing these guys since the start of summer camp and although we have a lot of water polo left to play, it’s nice to see that we are still competing at a high level of water polo.

“Now, we just need to work on being consistent and to improve upon some things here and there, which is to be expected at this time in the season.”

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