Soquel High water polo talent Madison Barwick loves blocking five-meter shots. The senior goalie, considered undersized for the position at 5-foot-6, also loves shining in 1-on-1 situations. She knows stopping those type of shots hypes up her teammates.

Barwick attributes part of her success in stopping penalty shots to her coming out of the cage as far as possible, appearing to be as big as she possibly can. The goal is to reduce the window of opportunity for the shooter.

Barwick not only made herself look big all season, she was rewarded by Santa Cruz Coast Athletic League coaches for playing big. She was voted the league MVP.“It means so much,” Barwick said. “It’s definitely a big thing that I’m thankful for. I couldn’t do it without my coaches and my team.”

Barwick helped the youth-laden Knights (22-7, 8-0), under the direction of first-year head coach Shelby White, repeat as unbeaten league champion and advance to the Central Open Division championship match, as well as the CIF NorCal Regional Division I playoffs.

Barwick finished with 188 saves and made 20 steals while posting a 8.4 goals-against average. In league, her GAA was an astounding 5.80.

On offense, she recorded three goals and 20 assists.

“She has an arm on her, that’s for sure,” said White, of the assist total, before addressing her goalie’s knack for stopping five-meter shots. “She can maintain her legs for an insane amount of time. She blocks more five-meter shots than most goalies. She also has a lot of steals.”

Barwick is undecided on where she’ll attend college. She hopes to go into either nursing or dental care, and continue her water polo career.

“She has a lot of quiet confidence,” White said. “She went into every game knowing she had to handle business, and she did that. She made some very big, crucial blocks late in the season for us.”

Barwick was joined on the first team by two of her teammates: sophomore Liz Penny and junior Natasha Ackerstein.

Penny led the Knights in goals (73) and assists (42) and was second on the team in steals (51) to freshman Keira Burke (75).

Ackerstein recorded 46 goals with a team-best .517 shot percentage, and made 32 assists, and 33 steals. She also led the Knights with 70 ejections drawn.

Aptos’ Cody Gilbert was named Coach of the Year. His Mariners (17-10, 5-3) finished tied with Santa Cruz (14-8, 5-3) for second place in league and beat the Cardinals in the SCCAL Tournament semifinals and the CCS Division II championship.

Aptos and Santa Cruz each had two players named to the first team. Senior Adrianna Santillano and sophomore Mary Suarez-Abraham made it for the Mariners, and senior Giulia D’Souza and junior Violet Rubin made it for the Cardinals.

Santillano scored 28 goals with a .491 shot percentage and led the Mariners with 28 assists. She also recorded 19 assists. Suarez-Abraham, a goalie, made 209 saves. On offense, she scored three goals and recorded 24 assists.

Harbor senior Abigail Higgins and San Lorenzo Valley senior Angie Fulkerson rounded out the first team.

Higgins scored a team-leading 94 goals and made 35 assists and 40 steals. She had a .553 shot percentage.