The Riverside Press-Enterprise
Sirls shines as Centennial captures Division 3 crown
WALNUT >> Two seasons ago, Centennial girls water polo coach Crystal Voss rotated multiple goalkeepers and ultimately decided to go with a field player inside the cage when the CIF Southern Section playoffs started.
Clarysa “CJ” Sirls was a freshman backup goalkeeper on that 2022 squad that claimed section and CIF State regional championships. Sirls missed the majority of her sophomore season because of a wrist injury and then suffered a broken thumb during the offseason.
Healthy once again, Sirls finally is getting the opportunity to demonstrate how much she has improved over these past two years.
Sirls put on a goalkeeping clinic in Saturday’s CIF Southern Section Division 3 title match at Mt. San Antonio College. She finished with an eye-popping 23 saves, kept Palos Verdes off the scoreboard for 25 1/2 minutes and helped the Huskies walk away with a 9-1 victory.
“It’s just a tremendous honor to be the goalie for this team,” Sirls said. “I’ve worked my hardest to keep getting better. I switched to a club that has more goalkeeper training, and I think that really helped me get to this point.
“I told Bailey (Desmond, the team’s senior captain) that I was going to come back stronger than ever and make this one her best season ever. I put a lot of pressure on myself by saying that, but I really wanted this for her.”
Centennial (31-1) was looking to record just the second shutout in section championship history. Palos Verdes managed to avoid that when Jane Girard scored a power-play goal with 2:30 left. The Huskies did tie the mark for the second-fewest goals allowed in a final.
“Having CJ back has been a tremendous lift for us this season,” Voss said. “She definitely has been our MVP. Anything that comes her way — left, right, high, low — she’s stopping it. It’s insane the number of saves she’s been making, and she’s just going to get better.”
Palos Verdes goalie Maddison Marohn had some big saves, as well, and she matched Sirls for the first 3 1/2 minutes of the contest.
Emma Armstrong finally got Centennial on the scoreboard with a cross-cage lob from about 6 meters away. Catherine Jenkins doubled the lead less than a minute later with the first of her three goals.
Centennial extended its advantage to 5-0 midway through the second period following back-to-back-toback goals from Jenkins, Kaia Boone, and Desmond. Jenkins added a penalty shot to make it 6-0 at halftime.
“We’ve changed a lot of things this season,” Voss said. “We attended a lot of basketball games to watch and understand what tempo can do for a team. We’ve been able to start implementing some of those things into the pool.”
Palos Verdes (26-10) kept firing away, but the Sea Kings could get nothing past Sirls, who had nine saves in the third period.
“It was just completely random,” Sirls said of her anticipation and positioning throughout Saturday’s championship match. “I just tried to get behind the ball. I watch the ball rather than the eyes, and that’s been working pretty well.”
Centennial’s hopes for an unbeaten season were dashed when King scored a 7-6 win against the Huskies in the championship match of the Big VIII League’s carousel tournament.
“That was a reminder that we’re human and mistakes happen,” Voss said. “As much as it stung, it humbled us and got us refocused.”
Desmond, who is headed to Iona, is the team’s most experienced player. Centennial was a perennial cellar dweller in the Big VIII League standings prior to her arrival.
“It’s taken a lot of hard work and dedication from people who are passionate about the sport,” Desmond said about winning two titles in three seasons. “It starts, of course, with coach Voss. And then it comes down to finding players who want to be out here every day.”