Tiera Schroeder, pictured, and teammate Kiley Neushul can become four-time CIF champions.
Whether she’s playing two meters in front of the goal or on the perimeter, Dos Pueblos senior Kiley Neushul can make life miserable for an opposing girls water polo team.
On Saturday, Neushul and her Charger teammates will be going for their fourth straight CIF championship (third in Division 1), a second straight undefeated season and their 67th win in row since 2009. They’ll take on the upset queens from Foothill in the Division 1 final at 6:30 p.m. at the Woollet Aquatics Center in Irvine.
Kiley Neushul has committed to play at Stanford next season.
Foothill, the seventh seed in the tournament, knocked off No. 2 Los Alamitos and No. 3 Corona del Mar.
The Knights (19-10) are big, they play physical and they’re are on a roll right now.
But they don’t have a player with the moxie, skill level, savvy, power and championship experience of a Kiley Neushul.
She’s like a Michael Jordan or a Magic Johnson in her sport at the high school level; she has the ability to take over a game whenever she wants. You can contain her but you can’t stop her, especially when a game is on the line.
In DP’s two tightest games this season, sudden-victory decisions against Santa Barbara in Channel League play and against Laguna Beach in Wednesday night’s semifinal, Kiley made her presence known.
In the Santa Barbara game, she got the ball inside with her back to goal and felt the defender waiting for her to turn and shoot. So what does she do? She unleashes a wicked backhanded shot that surprises everyone and beats Santa Barbara’s standout goalie for the win.
Against Laguna Beach, she was on the perimeter and received the ball in a 6 on 5 restart. Kiley knows she has the power to score from there, but she saw Tiera Schroeder open in the middle, fed her the ball and watched her fellow three-time CIF champion fire a skip-shot into the cage to end the game.
It was a cool and fitting moment seeing the two seniors and four-year varsity teammates combine on the big play that vaulted their team into the Division 1 final for the third year in row.
Neushul and Schroeder have been playing water polo and winning titles together since they were little kids. The sport is in their blood.
“Those kids are products of kids who played before,” said retired DP coach Jim Ranta, who is considered the “Godfather” of local water polo. “Kiley’s dad, Peter, played at DP and Tiera’s dad, Lance, played at San Marcos.
“Tiera’s uncle, Terry Schroeder, also played at San Marcos, was on the U.S. Olympic team, and is the coach at Pepperdine. His statue is in front of the L.A. Coliseum. She’s got a good lineage of water polo players.
“Kiley’s mom (Cathy) is director of the club team and the assistant coach with the women’s team at UCSB. (Kiley’s) been watching water polo since before she could walk.”
Ranta said the great teamwork between Schroeder and Neushul comes from all the years playing club together.
“And you can see the results. They’re both outstanding young ladies. It’s neat to be able to have them as teammates. But it’s not just those two. The other players have quite a few years of (club) experience as well. They have this great team speed, great teamwork, these great shots from all that experience. It’s neat to see them play.”
Before they move on to rival colleges (Neushul to Stanford and Schroeder to Cal) they’ll complete their amazing prep careers with the remarkable accomplishment of being part of CIF finals teams all four years of high school (they won the D-2 title as freshmen).
Individually, Neushul can become the first four-time CIF Player of the Year and three-time D-1 PoY in girls water polo.
As dominating as she can be in the water, Neushul is the consummate team player. She calls her teammates sisters, and she makes sure they’re all involved in a game.
The Chargers are a fun team to watch. Even if you don’t understand water polo, you would appreciate their speed of play and great ball movement.
Coach Chris Parrish, a winner of two CIF boys titles at DP, has to be complimented for keeping the Chargers focused and driven after taking over from Danelle Little, who stepped down to start a family.
“Chris works hard, knows the game very well and gets in the water with them to demonstrate things,” said Ranta. “The kids respect him a lot. He has a good rapport with them. Chris has shown great leadership.”
Ranta is proud of what Schroeder, Neushul and the DP team have done for the school and the community.
“They’re reaping awards for working really hard,” he said. “It does helps … good genes, also.”
