North South Challenge 2024

[OCL]

Congratulations to Newport Harbor on winning the North South Challenge in dominant fashion and IMO beating three of the four best other teams in the tournament. Newport showed amazing depth and versatility with an all-star line up of recent move-ins led by Connor Ohl, Kai Kaneco, Luco Van Der Woude, James Mulvey and ever versatile Santino Rosso. Even without these solid players Newport would have won going away and their 2nd line is good enough to have made the semi-finals.
Above all else was the exceptional goalie play from Luke Harris. I will enjoy tracking Luke Harris’s play as the likely USJNT goalie this next year. Major tip of the hat to Newport for their solid program and players they both develop and attract.

Secondly, the Sacred Heart parent volunteers do a very good job and should be commended for the days and weeks of preparation as well as the countless hours of in-tournament time they offer. Beautiful setting and facilities is an understatement.
I mention this second to separate them, the volunteers, from my only (very big) criticism of this tournament which I will leave for my next post and perhaps a separate thread as to not detract from Newport’s accomplishments nor the volunteer’s hours of contributions.

JSerra took 2nd place and looked much stronger than they did in the Elite Eight. Tyler Anderson earned his starting job back–odd to say since he would start anywhere in the country, including Newport. Tyler was dominant early in the championship game and the entire semi-final game despite playing both with a bandaged-up gash above the eye. Jonas Ransford was big in goal and is sneaky long in reach. JSerra was still missing two key players to injury and have lost Gavin Conant for the year. I hope they are fully healthy by November for what looks to be a very competitive tournament for 2nd-4th places–yes, I know, they don’t play out after semis in CIF.

Oaks Christian’s only loss came to Newport in the Semis and they played the most competitive game against Newport, 11-7. Even though Newport controlled this game the entire way, Oaks never let them pull away as they were able to do against other teams. OC played with impressive discipline, solid execution and strong endurance. Their biggest obstacle was being the 4th seed and having to draw Newport in the semis, but that is why seeding matters. They look to be improving every week and are now positioned in CIF-SS to avoid Newport until possibly the finals.

Harvard Westlake took 4th and suffered from losing one of their key players for the semi-final game against JSerra. I don’t think the result would have been different but the players deserved to be able to compete for the result. I hope to one day have the same level of patience Jack Grover showed during this entire tournament–more on this later.

De La Salle- Although they took 7th this team had an amazing showing and was clearly the top team in the North, they deserved a better starting seed. They are tough, fast and fairly young; with continued improvement DLS and Cathedral Catholic may be the most likely teams to challenge Newport next year. Major props to this team who had an impressive win against Harvard Westlake in their showcase game on Thursday. Seeded fairly, they would have been in contention for the semi-finals.

Cathedral Catholic- Placed 5th and their only loss came to Oaks Christian in the quarterfinals. Very impressive young team loaded with talent. Jett Taylor’s length and defensive skills–although well known–may also be understated. Multiple times he was able to protect the far side of the cage on a 1/2 swing while still holding defensive position at the 2. His rocket of an arm makes him an incredible offensive weapon too–also well known. Oren Penning in goal stood out the entire tournament. Fun team in watch both now and hopefully in the future.

Sacred Heart- Placed 6th and was led by an exceptional Junior center, Oliver Marcin who was dominant in the middle. Nelson Harris was deadly from the wing on the 6/5 and buried any open look given on a drop. Lefty junior Claiborne Carrington was equally effective from the other side and junior goalie Murdoch Baker-Matsuoka played great in goal. These player deserve credit and they took advantage of the many opportunities they were given.

Loyola- Took 8th with a key win against a tough Campolindo team in a very tight first round game. Jake Lee and Charles Johnson were crazy good in this game where they eventually got a two goal lead with a minute left in the 4th quarter to seal a hard-fought win.

Goalie Play- I was impressed with the high-level talent displayed in the cage. In addition to the ones mention above, Oaks Christian’s sophomore goalie Ryder Bjork played like a vet and Santa Margarita’s senior Aiden Stone had an incredible tournament.

Major props to site founder Jeff who nailed the predictions on this tournament “missing” only two main games, HWL vs SH and Loyola vs Campo, which were both very close.

JFranPolo- We missed out on having your announcing and insight but understand you had a family feud game at attend.

[Kickout]

Well written and compressive. Thumbs up to the Sacred Heart alumni that worked the bbq pits all day for the athletes. I like the North/South concept and being able to see/play different teams, but in trying to create those matchups, I believe the seeding isn’t always where it should be. Good, high-level polo.

Officiating was roouuuuugh. A couple officials seemed to not understand the basic rules of the game.

Regarding Harvard Westlake missing a player in the semis. This is the same old story of an immensely skilled athlete whose emotions get the better of him and he gets rolled for misconduct/brutalities…over and over gain. How CIF or USAWP hasn’t been involved is an head scratcher. Ends up hurting himself and his team. Grover is a really good young coach but he’s having to play therapist far too often.

Did not like hearing that the Santa Margarita/Mater Dei game didn’t get played because SM had to catch a plane. Hopefully there is a good reason. Both teams got shortchanged. In the absence of a good reason they should look for an alternate team next year.

Looking forward to CIF and whatever crazy bracket/division structure they come up with.

[H2OPolo]

Having watched the North-South challenge via streaming, it is with a heavy heart that I must address the subpar officiating. While I am genuinely appreciative of the officials who dedicate their time to water polo—a sport notoriously challenging to referee—I find myself perplexed by the apparent stagnation in officiating standards, particularly in contrast to the marked advancement of top-tier teams over the years.

The crux of the matter lies not merely in the need for consistency, though that remains paramount. More crucially, there exists a pressing demand for consistent training and heightened accountability regarding the calls made during matches. It is imperative that the quality of officiating evolves in tandem with the sport itself, ensuring that it does not become a limiting factor in the game’s progression and the athletes’ performance.​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​​

[OCL]

Here is my follow-up complaint that I’ll post on the same thread so those annoyed by such commentary only have to ignore one thread. I’ve made myself wait 24 hours after the tourney, some may wish I waited longer, a lot longer…

I do have one very big criticism of this tournament. This is not a shot at any of the volunteers for Sacred Heart and certainly not a shot at the very talented players in this program. But what I witnessed first hand this weekend was exponentially worse than just a home-pool advantage. Yes, I am directly calling out the officials who were absolutely horrendous. If they had only been “horrendous” then all teams would have suffered somewhat equally. I’ve personally had my own complaints and heard many complaints on this topic over the last few years. I know we all see things with bias toward our own teams but it is the pattern I find most disturbing.

This year went to a new level starting in the showcase game against Mater Dei. SH played well, MD did not, SH earned the win. But an 11-1 exclusion ratio, wow! The beating Mater Dei’s center took each possession was out of hand and a signal for things to come when the tournament started.

I’ll provide some numbers you can check by viewing the online stat sheets.
Exclusion Ratios per Sacred Heart games:

MD 11 SH 1
SM 13 SH 3- SH had none after early in 3rd, and obvious 5-meter calls ignored.
HW 9 SH 5 - This game was totally out of control.
Loyola 10 SH 4
I didn’t see any of the Cathedral game so I’ll reserve comment.

It’s not unusual to see skewed exclusion ratios when the teams are not evenly matched, but these teams are very evenly matched. MD beat SH 12-9 earlier in the season; SM went to overtime even against this disadvantage. Loyola beat SH 15-5 two weeks ago. I hesitate to go on and on, but must provide a few details which you can see for yourself by glancing at the score sheet or re-watching the games on GOLS YouTube channel.

The Harvard Westlake game was probably the worst, although Mater Dei and Santa Margarita may strongly disagree. HW and couldn’t buy a call even with dominant position or after half and full turning the defenders. This game was out of control and the things SH was allowed to do–whoa. Again, I don’t blame the players for doing what the officials let go but I directly blame these officials for letting this game get so out of hand.

I admire the on-deck patience and class of HW coach Jack Grover but the officiating in this game has got to leave him stirring inside. One of the most impactful results from this game was one of HW’s key players being issued a red card and being disqualified from the Semi-Finals. Nice parting gift. Yes, actions have consequences, something we all have to learn and try to teach our kids–and perhaps a lesson I will have to relearn after starting this thread.

The opening-round game of Sacred Heart vs Santa Margarita looked blatantly unfair especially in the second half. As mentioned above, clear 5-meter call situations where the SM center had fully-turned his defender was met with silence from the officials. No Sacred Heart exclusions or penalty after early in the 3rd. Horrible.

All teams have their bad-beat and “we got robbed” stories, but this has been a pattern year after year in this tournament. It kills the credibility of this otherwise great tournament which should simply be renamed the Sacred Heart Invitational. If the High School water polo community wishes to have a true end of the season challenge something needs to change.

[EYG]

Source: stats from northsouth tournament

[2Ply]

North vs South reffing. This doesn’t surprise me at all and I’ve been to many North vs South vs South Coast Tournaments for many years. In a nutshell, Norcal teams generally do well at the North South Challenge but are fairly easily dispatched when they travel south…year after year. (There are a few exceptions of course). Draw your own conclusions, but I’m pretty confident I know the reason why.