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Troy girls water polo has tough day against San Dimas in Division 4 final

February 22, 2025

WALNUT — Troy’s girls water polo team couldn’t overcome an early scoring barrage from San Dimas in the CIF-SS Division 4 championship game Saturday at Mt. San Antonio College.

The Saints, who were making their first appearance in a CIF-SS final, scored five goals in the first quarter and shut the Warriors out over the next three quarters for a 9-2 victory.

San Dimas led 7-2 at the half and the Saints’ defense made it nearly impossible for the Warriors to mount a comeback.

Troy poses for a photo with their Finalist plaque. San Dimas defeated Troy in the CIF-SS Division 4 girls water polo championship game on Feb 2,, 2025 in Walnut CA. (Photo by John McCoy, Contributing Photographer)

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“I think San Dimas came out and they had a good scouting report because they anticipated a lot of our offense,” Troy coach Gary Cheever said. “I have a handful of girls that are really good at going one-on-one and creating space, holding inside water. San Dimas was aware and played heads-up defense and prevented those opportunities.”

Cheever was looking for the Warriors to come back, just as they had done in a 13-11 victory over Yucaipa in the semifinal round.

“We fought back and came back in that game,” said Cheever, who is in his second season as Troy’s coach. “In this one, we just couldn’t get things going again. I think that we were a little too rattled. I talked to them throughout the season of riding the highs and lows and kind of maintaining the emotions and in this one we didn’t do very well at that.”

With five minutes remaining in the first quarter, Faith Kearns of San Dimas scored the game’s first goal.

The Warriors responded right away, getting a goal from Anisha Aluwihare one minute later.

But then the Saints scored four goals in a row before Julia Machon scored the Warriors’ second and final goal with 22 seconds left in the quarter.

“We’ve got some really fast swimmers,” San Dimas coach Jessee Johnston said, “and every transition we get out, we get down and wide and we open up the middle and that opened up our middle for our guards.”

After the first period scoring surge, Troy held the Saints to two goals in each of the next two quarters and shut the Saints out in the fourth quarter.

“In the first quarter, we watched a lot,” Cheever said. “And San Dimas did a good job anticipating the transition. When you dig yourself a hole, and you’re down 7-1, it’s hard to come back.”

Troy was in a division final for the second year in a row under Cheever, who has guided the program to a remarkable turnaround after some dismal seasons.

The Warriors were defeated by Chaparral, 11-8, in the Division 5 final last season.

Troy finished 4-16 in the 2022-23 season and 2-21 in 2021-22.

After talking with the whole team, Cheever pulled the seniors aside to talk to them separately.

“They were a big part of the culture change,” Cheever said of the seniors. “They were a big part of us getting here and changing the reputation of what was going for the program.”

Troy girls water polo has tough day against San Dimas in Division 4 final Orange County Register

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Troy girls water polo has tough day against San Dimas in Division 4 final

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