On Dec. 11, 2025, the Buena girls’ water polo team took on the Carpinteria Warriors in a game ending with Buena taking the lead 17-9. Despite the game not counting for league status, it was a unique victory that allowed every player to creatively practice new strategies, shots and, for some, new opportunities to shine.
“Any game experience where we can try things out is hugely beneficial. A lot of girls in [this game] step up and score a lot of goals in a lot of ways that I haven’t seen before. Even some of our go-to girls scored some pretty creative goals,” varsity head coach Christian Guillaume said.
Of these “creative” game highlights, senior players such as number three Addison Bruno and number 11 Madelyn Pierce showcased goals outside of their routine strategies. Despite Bruno’s usual hard shot, she made multiple lobs, earning her the first goal of the game. Pierce was able to make several goals, pushing the ball in the goal a split second past Carpenteria’s goalie.
The first quarter was off to a great start, finishing up with a score of 5-2, putting Buena at a lead that would carry throughout the rest of the game.
Communication was particularly strong and produced success with passes from outside into the set position, allowing senior and number four Avery Buehner to score. The synergy between players elevated the team chemistry and high energy as they embarked on a successful season. The dynamic was shifted with new plays, but also because of the absence of some players such as “team mascot”, as described by Buehner, sophomore Teska Raducanu, who was unwell.
“[Raducanu] is first off the bench and brings a lot of hype to the team. She always has a smile makes other players on the team happy just by being there, so with her not here it was hard to get that energy up in the first quarter,” Buehner said.
Despite the team player number down, the score still went up, ending the first half of the game with 8-4.
Going into the third quarter, Bruno wins the sprint, maintaining Bursek’s streak, passing a goal to Buehner, who scores. Bruno’s later ejection inspired Carpenteria to call a time-out to discuss a recovery strategy. On Buena’s end, the team huddled in the corner of the pool around Guillaume with a small whiteboard.
The girls’ defense was noticeably strong, with a “full-press” strategy described by Guillaume, and Bursek achieving multiple steals. They also discussed working on sliding to different positions, something the coaches, Guillaume and Arturo Medina observed from the bench.
By the end of the fourth quarter, the girls rose out of the pool to shake hands with smiles on their faces, another win to rack up for the upcoming season of challenging tournaments, and, for many of the varsity team, the conclusion to their high school water polo career. Medina viewed this time’s success as a good direction heading into the next, more difficult game with Dos Pueblos that all bulldogs are welcome to attend on Dec. 16.
“It’s really nice having this game before we go into next week, but I think we have the potential to do really well, so it’s exciting,” Guillaume said.
