Hurricanes Look For Repeat Of Last Year’s ‘Riveting Run’
By Jack Danilewicz
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Offense clearly defined the Kapolei girls water polo team last spring as the Hurricanes rode the individual talents of Nicole Hagi and Ashlie Salas-Selem to average just over six goals a game en route to making the OIA championship game.
That kind of production would seem a tough act to follow, but if all goes according to plan, the Hurricanes could be as assertive defensively as they were on the offensive end a year ago, according to Kapolei coach Dexter Lee.
“We have a better team concept, and our goalie play should be better this year,” said Lee, whose team is coming off a 13-5 season in 2007. “Last year we had two all-stars in Nicole and Ashley. I don’t think we can match that (scoring pace), but having kids like Nicole and Ashley come through your program gives the others a good reference point.”
In addition to their second-place finish in the OIA last spring - their highest finish yet - the Hurricanes also made the state tournament for the third consecutive year, defeating Leilehua 5-3 in the seventh-place game to close out their season.
Back from that team are key performers in goalkeepers Kelsie Polston and Kanani Mazzone, as well as two-meter player Shantel Chong and junior team-leader Alexandra Jamora, who plays multiple positions.
“Alexandra could even play goalie for us, but we need her in the field,” Lee said. “She’s well conditioned - she can go up and down a lot - and she has a really strong arm.
“She and Shantel are definitely our ‘go-to’ players. Shantel is our long-range shooter and our ‘hole’ defender. She plays a key role for us. She can get us out of trouble.”
In net, they will rotate between Polston, a junior, and Mazzone, who is a sophomore in her second year on the varsity.
“Kelsie is a good all-around player and a real good goalie,” Lee said. “Kanani is real strong in the water, and she has good quickness post to post.”
Whether or not the Hurricanes can match their riveting postseason run of last year remains to be seen, but Lee expects a more balanced race in the OIA this time around.
“The skill level for all of the teams has come up. Kahuku is still head-and-shoulders above the rest, but everyone else has moved closer. Leilehua looks real strong, and so does Roosevelt. Kaiser has stepped up its play quite a bit.”
Kapolei’s steady rise in water polo has been achieved with small rosters in comparison to some of their fellow OIA teams. In contrast to Kahuku, which listed 28 players on its varsity roster when it opened the season last week, Kapolei has 11 at present, only one more than they played with in the 2007 postseason.
What they have lacked in quantity, they’ve made up with quality. Most of them also compete in competitive swimming at Kapolei, where Lee is also the swim coach.
Kapolei will play a pair of matches Wednesday at the Veterans Memorial Aquatic Center at Central Oahu Regional Park. At 5:15 p.m., the Hurricanes play McKinley, while a matchup with Moanalua is set to begin at 7:45.
“We love double-headers - they’re the best,“Lee said.“They get to play for two hours instead of one. McKinley and Moanalua are both stronger than last year. They are two of the teams that are coming up (in the league). We’re counting on our competitive swimmers against them. Our goal is to run and gun and, hopefully, things will go our way.”
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