Posted: Sep 11, 2014

Preparation

Goalie Rose Takeuchi, who was a 1st team All-WSC selection as a freshman, is one of Citrus' top returners in 2014.

Glendora, CA -- The Citrus College Women's Water Polo program kicks-off their 2014 season this weekend down in Mission Viejo at the Saddleback Invitational. The Owls will be looking to build on Silva's first season at the helm of Citrus in 2013, where they showed signs of potential. Citrus will do so, by striving to lean on the preparation that has taken place over the last several months.

"I want to be more competitive both in conference, in the Southern California region, and Statewide this year. Last year we were competitive with most teams, but there were some games where we didn't match-up as well," Head Women's Water Polo Coach Andrew Silva said. "This season our preparation and our work has hopefully put us in a position to be competitive in all games against all opponents."

A lot of that early preparation has focused on Citrus' conditioning. The Owls have put in a lot of work this summer, and they're hoping that will pay off in form of being the stronger team when the final buzzer sounds.

"I feel like our fitness and conditioning is far ahead of where it was at this point last year," Silva said. "Both the coaching staff and the individual athletes have committed to our level of physical preparation and conditioning. I feel that we'll be the stronger team late in games because of it."

Returning for Citrus in 2014 will be 1st team All-WSC selection Rose Takeuchi (297 blocks, 59.4% block percentage), All-WSC Honorable Mention Honoree Lauren Quintero (13 goals, 16 assists, 27 steals), as well as Kimberly Torres (14 goals, 16 assists, 41 steals) and Gabriela Biedebach who both contributed significantlyin 2013.

"Rose gives us consistency and a high level of play in goal. She's really the anchor of our defense and she's taken on a more vocal role with our team as well. She's quarterbacking our defense, and the fact that she's a returning athlete and has played a year in our system and understands what it takes to be successful at this level is a huge asset for us," Silva said. "Lauren and Kim return for us, and both played major minutes for us last year. It's an advantage for us to have those two who know what it takes to compete against the schedule we play and what's expected. Gabby has one of the higher water polo IQ's on the team, and I expect her to take a substantial leap forward in her contributions this season on both ends of the pool."

Despite their promising returners, Citrus did lose 80.5% of their scoring from last year's squad to graduation or matriculation. That leaves a giant offensive hole for the Owls to overcome in 2014.

"I think our biggest challenge, fortunately, is something that we can control, and hopefully something we can improve on as the season progresses. Our offense is raw." Silva said. "We graduated or moved on most of our scorers from last year's team. We have all the ability this year and there's a number of athletes who are capable of scoring for us. We're just going to have to wait and find out who is comfortable and confident in their shooting and who wants to be a goal scorer. Ideally by the end of the season everyone on the roster will be in a position to contribute offensively."

Citrus gets their first chance to show what they have tomorrow early afternoon against Grossmont College at 12:30 PM at Saddleback College.