Everything was stacked against them.
They were heavy underdogs, with a dominant opponent expecting an easy win. No member of the team had ever beaten the opposing school. They were playing in the other team’s home pool, a pool that was much smaller than their pool – only four and a half feet deep on one side. It was Senior Night for the opposing team, so fans and family were loud and boisterous. It wasn’t supposed to happen. In the end, none of that mattered; the unexpected happened.
With the varsity girls team cheering them on, the James Logan Boys Water Polo team shocked the Mission Valley Athletic League by beating Washington 14 to 11 on October 17th to force a three-way tie for the MVAL crown. It was a chippy, aggressive match that saw the Huskies fall behind early, lose their cool, fight back, and fall short in the end.
“I would have to say it was the most energetic atmosphere I’ve ever been in for sports,” Senior Captain Ryan Boyer said.
Then, before the celebrations were barely finished, it was the girls’ turn.
Not to be outdone, the James Logan Girls Water Polo team took to the pool and crushed the Huskies 10 to 4, winning the MVAL title outright with an undefeated league record. Like the boys, it was the first victory for the Varsity girls’ team in four years.
“In all the years that I’ve played, we’ve got second in the league,” Junior Jenna Mukaled said. “We’ve lost against Washington. So, when we beat Washington, it was just amazing, because none of us on that team had ever beat them before. Since they were our rivals for so long, beating them was really important to us.”
Although the road for each varsity team was different, the road for both began well before school started and shared a number of things in common. One obvious connection is that the two coaches are brothers – Lance and Luke Green. Both are Union City products, honed their skills playing Water Polo at college, and have considerable coaching experience at the school and the club level. The two brothers share not only a family but a similar philosophy.
“I want these girls to become better people and better students through playing the game of water polo. Water polo is a tough game that demands teamwork, hard work, grit, and dedication. If we can get these girls to commit to our core values, they will become better people, students, and athletes.” Girls Varsity Coach Lance Green said. Those values were practiced from day one of the season both physically and mentally.
“I don’t think the team has ever been as close as we are this year,” said Junior Jenna Mukaled, who had 5 goals, 2 assists, and 2 steals in the championship game against Washington. “Because this year most of us are juniors, so we’ve known each other for four years through club play in Middle School. The team chemistry is really great. And we have no drama at all.”
The girls’ team had some success in previous years, but this team took a step forward.
“We ran into a really strong Washington team the past few years. We had strong teams the past few years but we couldn’t quite get over the hump,” said Lance Green, who is in his 10th year as the Logan coach. “What makes this team special is that we have girls who aren’t concerned with who gets the credit for a win. We have a ‘we not me’ mentality. This year we also feature a more balanced attack with girls who can make dynamic plays inside and on the perimeter.”
The boys’ team had different expectations coming into the season. Many outside the program thought it would be a rebuilding year for the squad, but the teammates believed in and relied on each other. Boyer believes that coming together as a team was the key to their success.
“At the start of the season, nobody really believed in us because we were pretty undersized,” Boyer said. “We just lost a lot of seniors who were a big part of the team. This year, we kind of tried to mesh more together instead of being just individual players, but more as a team this year, and I think that’s helped us out a lot.”
The bonding between the team didn’t just stay inside the pool. They stuck with each other like family, helped each other out with everything, and tried their best to be as supportive as possible to everyone in the team. Junior Alex Ledesma joined the team this year after playing on the Junior Varsity for his first two years.
“There was this one moment, our goalie on varsity was having a hard time,” Ledesma said. “So, we helped him move out of his house and move into a different house. He was going through a lot of stuff. That’s probably what I’m going to take back from the season. Not that we beat Washington, but that we had such a good team, that we were able to support one of our players from going through something so hard. The fact that we have such a good team, and a loving team; we’re like a real family.”
For both squads, the teamwork was there, but they also needed the hard work and dedication pieces to get them to the top. Those also started in the summer during “double days,” which consisted of conditioning in the morning and drills and practice in the afternoon.
Photo courtesy of Bridget Diaz.
“We’ve been working throughout the season, since summer in August,” Mukaled said. “So we worked really hard over the years. Like my freshman year, we didn’t swim that much. But this year, we spend a crazy amount of time swimming. So we’re valuing speed a lot this year, which has helped us.”
The practices, the speed, the teamwork, and the grit definitely helped both teams on that magical Wednesday evening in October that became so memorable for both squads.
“Definitely the last game we played where we beat Washington is one that I will remember,” Mukaled said. “At the end, all of our coaches jumped in the water; we got the trophies and it was just kind of crazy. Because all the years I’ve played, we’ve always lost and we’ve seen the other team do that. And it’s kind of been a really painful experience to watch. But now we’ve done that, and it was not even at our home pool. After the boys were supposed to lose, but they won, everyone was just there cheering. It was almost like it was our pool. It was just crazy.”
