The562’s coverage of water polo & swimming is sponsored by the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
There was no rust to be shook off for Wilson girls’ water polo.
The Bruins are the top seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 bracket, and enjoyed a bye in the first round, but picked right back up where they left off with a 12-4 win over San Clemente on Friday at Belmont Outdoor Pool.
Wilson will face Yucaipa in the semifinals on Wednesday. Time and location is to be determined.
“I was nervous all week,” Wilson coach Barry O’Dea said. “You want the bye, but then when everyone else is playing you want to play. At practice yesterday the girls were antsy. They just wanted to play. It even got a little chippy at practice, but we came out and played a good defensively minded game. Charlotte was huge for us.”
Wilson goalkeeper Charlotte Echlin didn’t give up a goal until a 5-meter penalty shot with about five minutes left in the game.
“We came in super prepared,” Echlin said. “We scouted them and knew what they were going to do. We came out being confident and shut them down.”
Echlin struggled through a tournament late in the regular season, but O’Dea worked with her by watching game film and teaching better positioning.
“She’s dialed it back in with the mindset she had this summer,” O’Dea said of Echlin. “Now she’s playing like herself again.”
“With the support of my teammates and everyone around me, they picked me up and got me back to where I should be,” Echlin added.
Wilson’s Maya O’Dea got the first of her five steals on the first San Clemente possession of the game, and then came down to score the opening goal. She calmly scored the second goal a minute later and finished with a hat trick to go with three assists.
“She’s not flashy,” O’Dea said of his oldest daughter. “She establishes herself but she doesn’t make it all about her because she loves her teammates.”
Maya was also key on defense as her and sister, Catherine, marked San Clemente’s best players.
“I encouraged my teammates to not overthink it,,” Maya said. “We know how to play together and we know what we’re going to do. We come in, play loose and go for it.”
Wilson led 6-0 at halftime and was able to take its starters out in the second half while still pitching a shutout. Hannah Szeszulski scored a hat trick for the Burins, and Katherine O’Dea chipped in two goals and few steals.
“We’ve been preaching all week about being 10 percent better at every aspect of the game,” O’Dea said. “I think we’re doing that and I think the girls like that mentality.”
Echlin thinks her team needs to use their confidence to maintain this momentum.
“I think if we just play our game and rely on each other we will be all good,” she said.
Wilson hasn’t reached a CIF semifinal since winning the Division 3 championship in 2018. It was the first in school history, and the first year under coach O’Dea.
