Daily Journal Girls’ Water Polo Player of the Year: Burlingame’s Natalie Sullivan Wu

“I think I definitely changed my perspective on water polo a little bit more (this season). Before, my idea of success was scoring. This year, my idea of success was helping the girls more. Just pushing forward as a team and helping each other out,” Sullivan Wu said. “I think as a player, scoring is very fun, but I’ve also been mindful of (not) being a ball hog. That’s one of my strengths as a player. I wanted to have team success, not just individual success.”

2022 was different for Sullivan Wu than her first three seasons, which also included a 12-match, truncated, COVID-plagued sophomore season in the spring of 2021. Other than core teammates Lily Hartley and Alex Gratch, Sullivan Wu’s senior season was a rebuilding process. That included a new head coach: her dad, Perry Wu. While initially a strange dynamic, Sullivan Wu made sure her teammates were comfortable with the relationship between their star player and the new coach.

“This year, it was a particularly new team, so it was definitely building the team from the ground up. … Last year, the girls had been together for two years,” Sullivan Wu said. “I was a little nervous about [my dad taking over as head coach]. It was my senior year and I wanted to have some separation between my home life, school life and polo life. [My dad and I] talked about it, making sure I was comfortable with it.

“We just decided this was the best thing for the girls and the best thing for our team. My main priority in talking to the girls was, ‘He’s my dad, but he’s the coach.’ I’m still a player. I didn’t want them to shield anything from me (about their feelings for the new coach).”

If there was any concern about Sullivan Wu becoming the coach’s favorite, it was quickly allayed as Coach Wu decided to change things up for the Panthers this season. He wanted to take some of the scoring load off Sullivan Wu’s shoulders and empower the other players to take quality shots when they presented themselves.

After three years of deferring to Sullivan Wu, now she would just be a cog in the Panthers machine.

“I didn’t want to be in a position where we depend on a single player. So I focused on an offense that pulled in three or four other players. Make sure we had three, four options to score every time,” Coach Wu said. “At certain points, early in the season, other players who weren’t ready to step up into that scoring role (and) teams shut us down. Over time, we got better at getting the ball to other people and have them in position to score.”

While Sullivan Wu’s scoring numbers were down this season (Coach Wu did not keep season statistics), all her other numbers went up. She became a master at drawing kickouts against the opposition, giving the Panthers consistent 6-on-5 opportunities.

Then there were the numbers helping the rest of her team.

“I’m sure Nat’s assists went up four or five fold,” Coach Wu said. “She’s gotten more seasoned as a player. … Nat’s going to get her goals, whether we set up this offense (for her) or not. She is just a talented, athletic person. Nat can score on the counter. She can score from the outside. She’s a great driver.”

Sullivan Wu’s new approach to the game was best exemplified in the penultimate match of the regular season when the Panthers hosted Menlo-Atherton Oct. 18 with the PAL Bay Division title on the line.

Sullivan Wu was shut out of that match, although she certainly had her chances to score. She misfired on a couple of shots from close range early, including shooting a 5-meter penalty shot wide.

But the Panthers’ focus on a more well-rounded offense paid off. Burlingame trailed 2-0 at halftime, but Gratch’s strike 30 seconds into the third period seemed to loosen up the Panthers. Less than a minute later, Gizel Ortiz tied the score at 2-all.

When Burlingame took the lead for good midway through the third period of what would eventually be a 6-4 Panthers’ win, it was Sullivan Wu who made her presence felt. She received a pass near the left post, which drew the attention of a pair of M-A defenders, along with the Bears goalie.

In previous years, Sullivan Wu might have stubbornly tried to beat all three defenders with a shot on goal.

Instead, she bided her time before she flipped a pass to a wide open Ortiz in front of the net, who was driving on the cage. Ortiz scored into a virtually empty net for a 3-2 advantage.

“The one thing about Natalie, she is very unselfish. She is very excited when her teammates score. … It feels good to play more as a team,” Coach Wu said. “The winning goal against M-A, I asked why she didn’t take the shot. She said, ‘Dad, [Ortiz], I had her wide open on the weak side.’ … She made the right call.

“She had a much more complete season. She was more a Magic Johnson than Kobe (Bryant). She definitely raised the level of play of her teammates. That was probably her biggest contribution.”