Questions Surround Three La Cañada Winter Sports Teams

The La Cañada girls soccer team doesn't have the same lofty goals of the Spartans boys team. Though the girls won the Rio Hondo League last year, right now coach Louie Bilowitz is more focused on seeing his squad improve over the course of the season.

"It's going to be the journey that we're going to appreciate," said Bilowitz, a veteran with 25 years' of coaching experience. "I told (the players), the judgment of our success is going to be, 'How are we playing at the end of the year compared with how we started at the beginning?'"

But what, exactly, should La Cañada expect from its girls' soccer team? Bilowitz himself doesn't know the answer.

"It's the youngest, least-experienced team I've ever coached," he said. "I have no idea how it's going to be."

But based on what he's experienced so far, Bilowitz is pretty sure it's going to be fun.

"I've enjoyed this group immensely since Day One," Bilowitz said. "They're working hard, but enjoying it. They're learning things they haven't seen before; Instead of saying, 'That's not what I'm used to doing,' they just do it. As a coach, it's great."

Bilowitz is used to having teams start slow and finish strong; last year, his Spartans went 2-3-1 in the preseason before winning league with an 8-1-1 mark.

To replicate that performance, they'll need a strong season from Megan Siepler, the team's leading scorer last year as a junior.

Also expected to play big roles are Haley Austin (a goalie who started last year as a sophomore) and Talia Saleh, who Bilowitz describes as his most soccer-intelligent player.

Girls Water Polo

Josh Moser is new to his position as the La Cañada girls water polo coach, but he's not new to the area, having coached for several years at Flintridge Prep across town.

It's a good thing he has water polo experience, because many of his players lack it.

"We've got maybe one or two contributors (returning) from varsity," Moser said. "We graduated three All-CIF girls. And so it's pretty much, we've got a lot of new girls."

Moser's most-experienced returner is Rita Neat (of whom Moser says, "she's a team captain; she's running the show"). Beyond Neat, there is Stephanie Whitham, another senior who will be expected to take on a leadership role.

"After that it's a bunch of girls trying to figure out how to play together," said Moser. "Figuring out how to play."

Getting them to learn is Moser's specialty. He left Flintridge Prep three years ago to take the coaching position at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, a job he still holds. The high school girls' water polo season falls right in between the varsity men's and varsity women's seasons at Caltech.

"It's a lot of fun; the kids are working hard and I like the area," Moser said. "The parents have been supportive so far. We have a lot of potential."

Last year, the Spartans' water polo team reached the CIF Southern Section Division 4 quarterfinals. For now, this year, their focus is on league, and on rival South Pasadena.

Boys Wrestling

The same is also true for the wrestling team. Guided by coach Gavin Williams, the 2009-10 Spartans beat South Pasadena in a dual meet during the regular season, but could not duplicate the feat at the league meet at the end of the year.

Two of the team's better wrestlers at last year's CIF tournament were underclassmen and are expected to be back for another season. Then-junior Chris Bache won twice at CIF before losing consecutive matches in the 160-pound division. And Luke Sanborn, wrestling at 189 points weight class, won three matches to lead the Spartans in individual victories at the tournament. Like Bache, Sanborn is a senior this year.

Other underclassmen who competed for La Cañada during the CIF championships last February: Daniel Wyatt (103 pounds), Adam Skaggs (125), Jose Alcantara (130), Brian Streeter (130), Marty Vardanian (215) and Austin Devine (275).