Glendale High School Girls Water Polo Heritage
Meet the girls teams from the 2000's
Click here to see the teams from the 1990s
Pacific League Action

2000
Coach Carol Driffill
1st place in league

Pacific League Results
Glendale 5-4 Muir
Glendale 7-5 CV
Glendale 11-3 Pasadena
Glendale 6-0 Arcadia
Glendale 13-1 Hoover
Glendale 7-2 Arcadia
Glendale 8-7 CV (OT)

In 2000, GHS won the Pacific League championship with a perfect 7-0 mark. The team was coached by Carol Driffill. The girls were 21-7 for the season, the best Nitro record ever at the time. Junior goalie Cassie Bassanetti led a stingy Nitro defense that allowed just 3.14 goals a game in league play (22 goals in 7 league contests.)

Pacific League Player of the Year Kristina Garcia and All-CIF driver Megan Scott were stars for the team. Meri Gulyan earned first team all-league honors and Bassanetti, Jesse Ortiz, a junior, and sophomore Carla Hale were second team all-league picks. Bassanetti also gathered first team all-area honors with Garcia. Two key wins for GHS came against Crescenta Valley, 7-5 and 8-7. GHS also surpassed Hoover, 13-1 and beat Arcadia in two games by a combined score of 13-2.

The Lady Nitros lost in the first round of the playoffs to Claremont, 8-7.

2001
Coach Shawna Metcalf
Coach Misty Harlin
5th place in league

The 2001 team was coached by Shawna Metcalf and Misty Harlin. The team finished a surprising fifth place in league with a 2-4 league mark and was 4-11 overall. CV won the league followed by Pasadena and Arcadia. GHS's two league wins came against Hoover. The first Hoover game was played in heavy rain at Hoover and saw the Nitros win in overtime, 11-7. The teams were tied at 7 going into the two overtime periods. The second meeting with Hoover resulted in an 11-2 pounding at the league finals, 5th place game. In that game GHS led 4-2 at halftime, but behind Arpine Megrabyan's 5-goal flurry, GHS outscored Hoover, 7-0, in the second half.

Cassie Bassanetti was the area's best goalie for the second year and was a rock for GHS all season long. A 3-year starter, Bassanetti was named first team all-area and first team all-league. Bassanetti's best game of the year came in the 10-3 loss to CV when she collected 19 saves (a school record). Jesse Ortiz again earned second team all-league honors and was known for her exceptional defensive play.

2002
Coach Alfred Tamazyan
Coach Pat Lancaster
CIF playoffs
4th place in league

GHS took fourth place in league with a 2-5 league mark and was 8-8 overall. CV won the league followed by Arcadia and Muir. GHS lost to Muir 9-7 in overtime at GHS and 8-4 at the league tournament. GHS beat Hoover for the 6th straight year, 11-5. Carla Hale was the team MVP and earned first team all-league recognition. It was her second time making all-league. She had previously been named to the second team after her sophomore season.


Other all-league players for GHS were junior defensive ace Teni Karimian and sophomore Michelle Garcia, who both made the second team all-league team. The team relied heavily on holeset Argine Kadymyan, who was its high scorer.

2002 article vs. La Canada
Girls celebrate win over Hoover

2003
Coach Alfred Tamazyan
Coach Pat Lancaster
CIF playoffs
1st place in league
Pacific League Champions

Pacific League Results
Glendale 7-4 Pasadena
Glendale 9-6 Muir
Glendale 9-5 Arcadia
Glendale 7-12 CV
Glendale 16-4 Hoover
Glendale 4-2 Arcadia (OT)
Glendale 7-6 CV (OT)

2003 article and pictures vs. CV
Sarineh Alexani Feature
2003 girls celebration
2003 action pictures from CIF
2003 action pictures

Coached by Alfred Tamazyan and assisted by Pat Lancaster, the Nitros finished 21-9 on the year. The 21-win total tied the school record for most wins in a season with the 2000 squad. The girls won the Pacific League championship after a breath-taking 7-6 double overtime win against Crescenta Valley at the league finals at Arcadia High. The team had been beaten by CV earlier in the year, 12-7, but in the finals the girls did not fold against the powerful Falcon attack.

The win over CV was miraculous. In the first quarter of the game, returning Nitro all-league driver Michelle Garcia was ejected from the game and in the second quarter, co-coach Alfred Tamazyan received a red-card and was also ejected from the game. In the third quarter a Nitro fan was ejected from the pool area. Down 5-3 in the fourth quarter, GHS rallied to tie the score and send the game into overtime. In overtime, Elina Vartanyan, who finished with four goals, and Ariga Hacopian scored goals for GHS to seal the win.

Both CV and GHS played exceptional defense. Led by holeguard Teni Karimian and goalie Sarineh Alexani, GHS held CV scoreless for the last 11 minutes of the game until the Falcons scored with 1 second remaining in the second overtime period.

Coach Lancaster called this Nitro team the best defensive team he had ever seen out of GHS.

The team lost to Charter Oak in the first round of the CIF playoffs and finished the year ranked 8th in CIF.

2003 Honors
Pacific League
co-MVP- Teni Karimian
First Team- Ariga Hacopian, Sarineh Alexani, Argine Kadymyan
Second Team- Michelle Garcia, Elina Vartanyan, Cindy Ramos
All-Area (News-Press)
MVP- Sarineh Alexani
First Team- Teni Karimian
Second Team- Ariga Hacopian, Argine Kadymyan
Coaches of the year-Alfred Tamazyan and Pat Lancaster
All-CIF
Teni Karimian, second team. Sarineh Alexani, honorable mention

2004
Coach Alfred Tamazyan
4th place in league

Coached by Alfred Tamazyan, the 2004 team took fourth place in league play after dropping games to Arcadia and Muir in the league tournament. CV won the league title followed by Arcadia and Muir. Three-year starter Michelle Garcia had a stellar senior season earning all-league recognition for the third straight year. Powerful holeset Lernik Herabidian, was named to the first team all-league team. Second year team member Mary Lee, junior Crystal Lim and sophomore Armineh Khoshnudyan were standouts on the team, which lost 6 of its 7 starters from 2003's championship squad to graduation. The team finished with an 8-18 record, (3-4 in league play) and beat Hoover for the 8th straight year.
2004 Honors
Pacific League
First Team- Michelle Garcia, Lernik Herabidian
Second Team- Mary Lee, Armineh Khoshnudyan
All-Area (News-Press)
Second Team- Michelle Garcia

2005
Coach Tim Fredericksen
5th place in league


2005 action shots vs. Hoover

Coached by Tim Fredericksen, the 2005 team took fifth place in league play losing to Hoover for the first time. The Tornadoes beat GHS 11-6 at the Hoover pool. Crystal Lim was the top gun for the Lady Nitros who beat Pasadena twice and finished with a record of 10-10 (2-4 in league). Lim, a senior, was first team all-league while senior Ani Igraryan and sophomore Vanuhi Ovasapyan were named second team all-league.

2005 Honors
Pacific League
First Team- Crystal Lim
Second Team- Ani Igraryan
Second Team- Vanuhi Ovasapyan

2006
Coach Bobby Zirovich
Coach Pat Lancaster
Coach Louis Hernandez
2nd place in league

Pacific League Results
Glendale 8-6 Arcadia
Glendale 13-4 Muir
Glendale 1-12 CV
Glendale 15-2 Pasadena
Glendale 17-8 Hoover
Glendale 13-12 Hoover
Glendale 4-11 CV

Coached by Bobby Zirovich, the 2006 team rose to a second place finish in league play, restored order in the city championship with Hoover and made a return visit to the CIF playoffs. The Lady Nitros were 14-11 on the season and had a win streak that saw them win 12 out of 13 games. School records were set by junior Lily Broussard (80 goals) and junior goalie Rachel Hahn (23 saves against Hoover).
Hahn also broke school records for steals, assists, penalty shot blocks by a goalie.

GHS finished 5-2 in league with the two losses coming to Crescenta Valley. One of the season highlights for the Nitros was the 17-8 thrashing of Hoover. Hoover came in with their best team ever and GHS scored the game's first 8 goals. Lily Broussard broke the school record for most goals in a game with 9, Hahn collected 23 blocks and GHS avenged last year's disappointing loss to the Tornadoes.

Broussard, senior Erin Grade, and Hahn were first team all-league while sophomore Shaggy Abolian and junior Vanuhi Ovasapyan were named second team all-league.

2006 Honors
Pacific League
First Team- Lily Broussard
First Team- Rachel Hahn
First Team- Erin Grade
Second Team- Shaggy Abolian
Second Team- Vanuhi Ovasapyan
All-Area (News-Press)
First Team- Lily Broussard
Second Team- Rachel Hahn
All-CIF
Lily Broussard, honorable mention. Rachel Hahn, honorable mention


2006
League finals-CV wins league title, 11-4, on Feb. 9
League prelims-Nitros Survive Hoover, 13-12, on Feb. 7

2001 action