Seaholm’s long journey to the regional tournament and dreams of making the state tournament came to an end last Friday as when they lost to Ann Arbor Huron 5-0 in the first round of the regional tournament.
“Against Huron I feel we played our best game of the year,” Coach Riddle said. “Although we came out on the short end of the stick, we played our best and forced them to play their best as well.”
“Huron was the number one ranked team in the state,” junior Franny Gagnier said. “Coaches from other teams came up to us and congratulated us on how well we played, even though we lost.”
To make it to the state tournament, the Maples needed to win on Friday, but their season did not end there. They played in the losers bracket of the regional where they lost to Groves 4-6 and then to Troy 3-4.
Although the Maples did not do as well as they hoped in the regional tournament two Seaholm athletes, junior Sam Krawczak and senior Molly Stacey, were given All-Region honors.
“Sam and Molly played well and earned All-Region Honorable Mention, but they were just doing what I asked out of everyone all season which was to help contribute to the team,” Riddle said. “This is not an individual sport, and the word team comes first, but they played very well and I am proud of them for their achievements.”
The Maples qualified for regionals by beating Grand Blanc in their first game of the League Tournament which they won 9-5 last Friday at Saline High School.
“We played great against Grand Blanc at districts,” Riddle said. “I was confident that we would win and confident that my players were ready.”
The team was very nervous about the game after losing to them 9-8 just days before.
“We didn’t play as well as we knew we could the first time,” junior defender Franny Gagnier said, “but we focused and worked well as a team which got us the win.”
After the Maples beat Grand Blanc they had a guaranteed spot in the regional tournament, but they still had to play well in the league tournament to have momentum leading up to the regional game. Seaholm’s seed in the regional tournament was determined based on the number of games won at leagues.
“We were so happy that we were going to regionals that we lost focus of winning the league,” Gagnier said.
The Maples lost their next two games in the District Tournament, Okemos 1-10, and Troy 4-7. This gave them the low seed at regionals, which meant they had to play the number one team in the state in their first game of the regional tournament.
“We played with heart and pride and didn’t back down,” senior captain Mallory Glazier said. “We just couldn’t get a good offense going.”
The Maples had many motivating factors that impacted their success this season, including hosting regionals.
“It would be a lot of fun to do well on our home turf,” Gagnier said.
“It would be terrible to host regionals and not play in them,” Laporte said.
The Maples were also motivated by last year’s disappointing loss to Groves in the District Tournament.
“Last year was extremely disappointing,” Kaugher said, “but it turned the team around and we are better because of it.”
Another key to the Maples success this year was the many changes they have made since last season.
“We’ve been coming together a lot more in the pool this year,” Glazier said.
“We are more successful than last year because our team is closely knit, we understand what needs to be done and we work harder than any women’s polo team has at Seaholm,” coach Riddle said.
The Maples also got a new head coach this year, David Riddle.
“My senior class has had three coaches in the past four years,” Glazier said, “but he’s our favorite by far, he really cares about the sport and he cares about us, he brings confidence to all of us.”
They have also worked better as a team this year.
“We’ve had a lot of problems the last couples years,” Stacey explains, “but we’ve gotten to be a much better team this year outside the pool”
The Maples have also changed their training techniques
“Our workouts are pretty intense,” Glazier said, “we swim in sweatpants and shoes, and sometimes with weight belts.”
“We’ve been working on new plays, passing, and different shots,” Stacey adds.
The Maples are also in great shape for next season, only graduating three seniors this year.
“We’re a really young team,” Glazier said. “They are going to have a lot of talent next year.”
