Sharks Girls Water Polo off to Great Start

, the girls varsity water polo team is off and swimming in 2011-12 under the leadership of new head coach Meredith Butte. The team's opening week included six games over a five-day stretch.

On Nov. 29, the Sharks traveled north to play the Oxnard Yellow Jackets.  Despite greater expectations and coming off solid scrimmages the prior week, Malibu struggled and lost 14-6.

"The game was a tough battle and unfortunately we just made too many turnovers to win," Butte said. "It should have been a one- or two-goal game, but even with the mistakes, the girls kept battling until the end."

Over the weekend, the Sharks played in the Mistletoe Classic tournament hosted by Newberry Park High School, featuring 24 teams that generally compete in higher CIF divisions than Malibu does. Despite the quality of the field, the Sharks won their last two games in dramatic fashion to compile a 3-2 record for the event and finish in a respectable 13th place.

The Sharks opened the tournament Friday night with an 18-4 victory over St. Joseph. Senior Jessie Sorce and junior Jenny Hill-Carter led the way with five goals each and Junior Devin Dematia added another four in a great start to the tournament. That was followed by two tough losses to Chadwick (10-8) and El Segundo (8-5) in which the Sharks played great games against two talented and higher-ranked teams.

Applying the experience from those two close losses, the Sharks rallied from second-half deficits to pull off incredible wins in their next two games. Against Pacifica, Malibu staged a furious rally to tie the game in the last minute of regulation, and then capped off an 8-7 victory with a goal by junior Linda Brown in sudden-death overtime.

In their final game of the tournament, the Sharks were down 8-5 in the second half and again rallied. In the final 20 seconds, coming out of a late timeout called by Butte, Sorce executed a planned play to get the ball to Brown, who made the game-winning goal again with just seven seconds left on the clock. It was an amazing finish to a long week of water polo for Malibu.

"Overall, I am very proud of how the girls played," Butte said. "The tournament was a grueling five games over two days and I am extremely happy with what the team was able to accomplish."

This week, the Sharks will be at Louisville High School on Thursday for another non-league game before heading into winter break. After the break, the Sharks will have their first home game of the season against Villanova on Jan. 4. Come out and cheer them on in their first league game of the season.

Happy Holidays and Go Sharks!