Mats Men's Water Polo suffers close loss in D-1 NorCal final
Jon Kingdon, Lamorinda Weekly
November 22, 2023
 
 After defeating De La Salle 12-10 in the North Coast Section championship, Miramonte entered the Division I NorCal CIF championship as the third seed. The Matadors opened the tournament defeating Saint Francis 17-12 and Bellarmine College Prep 10-9, setting up the championship game against Sacred Heart Prep. Trailing by one after three periods, Miramonte was outscored 4-2 in the fourth quarter, making the final score 13-10 in favor of Sacred Heart Prep.
 Miramonte had a schedule that saw them play 11 teams that were ranked in the top 10 nationally, which was by design, according to co-head coach John Nash: "Every year we set out to play the most difficult schedule we possibly can because if we compete against the best, it'll put us in the best position to be prepared to play the North Coast and CIF playoffs."
 It proved to be an effective way to help the team handle the pressure of competition. "We ended up learning what the process of winning is like," co-head coach Lincoln Nash said. "It was going to take four quarters of effort and realize that there are going to be ebbs and flows every game and you have to keep a positive mindset the entire time."
 The goal for the coaches was to keep the team balanced. "We talked about staying off the emotional roller coaster," Nash said. "We wanted our players to stay even keeled, not reacting to positive or negative things but to just move on to the next play which has put us in a great position for the post-season."
 Cooper Stern who began the season as a field player, became the Matadors' starting goalie in mid-season. "Cooper has done a really nice job for us," Nash said.
 Henry Engs, Grant Kurtz, Oliver Sherwood, Tristan Tucker, Griff Tunney, Patrick Stice and Brady Hassett were major players on the team. "They all contributed a bunch as have our substitutes," Nash said. "As a freshman, Hassett did a really nice job progressing through the course of the season, earning more playing minutes. Ben Lucas also became one of our top guys off the bench as a utility player."

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