Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year: Woodside’s Duncan Vaughan

Four years later, Vaughan capped his Woodside career with a historic season. As team captain, he helped lead the Wildcats to their first-ever Peninsula Athletic League Bay Division championship and first league title of any kind in more than 30 years, which included a pair of heart-stopping wins over their rivals and advanced to the semifinals of the playoffs.

Vaughan was chosen as the Woodside and the Bay Division MVP this season and he can now add Daily Journal’s Boys’ Water Polo Player of the Year honors to his resume.

“It was an amazing season. I don’t think I could have asked for anything more,” Vaughan said. “My freshman year, I was a small little dude playing against (bigger) guys. I don’t think I scored at all my freshman year. I didn’t think we’d win PALs and go undefeated (my senior year).”

Vaughan had no problems finding the back of the net this season. He scored 33 times and assisted on 26 others as the Wildcats averaged 11.7 goals per game this past season.

Woodside head coach Bruno Antonino asked for more from Vaughan this year and he came through. Not only in his play, but in his leadership as well. As one of four seniors on the team and one with three years of varsity experience under his belt, Antonino planned on putting Vaughan into the best position to succeed as a player and captain.

“Usually the captains that I choose are guys who show good personality and good leadership. Duncan, last year, when he was a junior, he was not exactly like that. He wanted to have fun,” Antonino said. “I told him before this season, I said, ‘I know how you are — having fun, talking a lot.’ But this year, I told him I needed him to do more. I needed him to change a little bit and he did.”

Antonino admitted he had Vaughan playing out of position during the 2018 season as the Wildcats battled to a third-place finish behind Menlo School and Menlo-Atherton — the two teams that had dominated the PAL for most of the last two decades.

“He had a good season (his junior year) … but he was doing more of the dirty jobs. Not doing the things he liked the most,” Antonino said. “This year, I had more opportunities to put him in position where he could use his good shot. That was crucial for our season.”

What Vaughan likes to do is swim, shoot and score, which suits him perfectly for the driver position. Vaughan has always had a hard shot and is a strong swimmer, so what he likes most to do is put pressure on opposing defenses.

“I’m fast and I do have a strong arm, so one thing I’ve always tried to do is get out on the counter (attack) or post up,” Vaughan said.

Ultimately, however, that may not always mean taking the shot.

“No matter where you are … there might be a better shot from somewhere else,” Vaughan said. “Playing club polo (in the offseason), I was able to get more confident and get into position to score or to make a better pass.”

That growth coincided with the Wildcats putting everything together in 2019. When it was announced prior to the season Menlo School was leaving the PAL for the West Catholic Athletic League, the general assumption was Menlo-Atherton would simply ascend to that top spot in the Bay as the Bears had been perennial runners-up to the Knights.

Woodside had other ideas and they didn’t back into the PAL crown. The Wildcats went out and took it from M-A, with Vaughan playing a vital role. He beat M-A for four goals in an 8-7 win Sept. 23 that sent notice that the Wildcats were in it to win it. They followed that win with a dominant 11-5 win over a Burlingame squad that was also unbeaten in Bay Division play at that point.

The Wildcats stayed unbeaten and were looking at no less than a co-championship when they met the Bears in their home pool Oct. 17.

“With Menlo out of the league, we had to win league,” Vaughan said.

Vaughan led Woodside with a hat trick and scored what turned out to be the game-winner with just over a minute to play as the Wildcats completed the regular-season sweep of the Bears with a 6-5 victory.

“To me, [beating M-A for the division title] was a real big deal,” Vaughan said. “A lot of those kids on M-A, I’ve known for four years of polo. There’s a significant amount of trash talk (between the teams).”

The Bay Division championship gave the Wildcats their first Central Coast Section berth since 2015 and they took advantage. Earning the No. 2 seed in the Division I bracket, Woodside withstood No. 7 Wilcox in the quarterfinals with a 5-4 to move into the semifinals to face its rival one last time.

This time, it was sixth-seeded M-A that prevailed, beating Woodside 8-4 as the Bears would go on to win the Division I title with a wild 15-14, sudden-victory overtime win over Mitty.

“Woodside, as team, had never gone further than first round of CCS. … Getting to the second round was big for us,” Vaughan said. “The semis was brand new territory. Everyone played their hearts out.”