Daily Journal Girls’ Water Polo Player of the Year: SHP’s Vivian Golub

One goal always remains the same: give your best effort every single outing and win the Central Coast Section title.

Expectations, however, differ, depending on the player. For the senior Golub, she was tasked with playing defense at the highest level and to shoot — regardless of where she was in the pool.

With Golub being the tip of the SHP spear, the Gators soared to heights no other team had reached in program history. Not only did the Gators win their second straight CCS title, they also won their first-ever CIF Northern California Division I championship while compiling a program-best 30-2 record.

And Golub pretty much did it all, earning the title of San Mateo Daily Journal Girls’ Polo Player of the Year.

“We all went [into the season] and said our big goal is to win the postseason. Everyone bought in to work 100% each day,” said Golub, who will continue her career at Princeton University in the fall. “One of the things that is more important than talent is willpower, I guess. That mentality of, ‘We’re going to win,’ you have to put in the work every single day.”

On a team that oozes with talent, one on which literally any player on the roster can be the star of the show, it was Golub’s play on both ends that got the rest of the CCS to take notice, as the section coaches named her CCS MVP, just ahead of teammate Natalia Szczerba.

Golub was basically unstoppable on the offensive end, scoring 97 goals — the most by a Gator since Maddie Johnston scored 97 in 2016. Golub also added 24 assists as she played both inside and out.

“When it comes down to, I’m a little bit of a goal scorer,” Golub said. “Coach Frank said, ‘If the shot clock is winding down, you have the green light to shoot.’ I think deep down, everyone really wants to shoot, but don’t want to get yelled at. I want to score. To want to win is definitely a driving factor.”

Frank said Golub’s polo IQ allows her to make the right decision without having to be told. She reads the game and adjusts accordingly.

“We run a lot of plays to get the ball in her hands,” Frank said. “If a team is putting heavy pressure on the outside, she’ll want to go to [hole set]. She’s always putting herself in position to be successful. She’s able to put the ball in from anywhere. She has great hands, great feel.

“This year, if I was to rank it, she’s probably the best center in CCS and one of the top three shooters in CCS.”

And Golub saved some of her best performances for the postseason. She scored three times in a 14-2 win over St. Francis in the West Catholic Athletic League tournament championship game. In the CCS title game, a 12-2 win over Soquel, Golub scored four goals. Against Miramonte in the Nor Cal semifinals, a 9-4 SHP victory, not only did she score two goals, the Gators got revenge on the only team to beat them this season.

And the cherry on top was a six-goal performance in an 11-4 win over Carondelet in the Nor Cal championship game.

Golub said practicing against one of the top teams in the country has definitely helped her development. Especially having to shoot against Gators goalkeeper Ellie Brush, who was All-CCS first-team goalie this season. A case of iron sharpening iron.

“If I can score on Ellie, I can pretty much score on anyone,” Golub said. That confidence must have rubbed off the rest of SHP roster because the Gators scored an average of 12 goals per game this season.

As impressive as the SHP offense was this season, the Gators’ defense was really the star of the show, and Golub was one of the best players in CCS on that end, as well. She finished the season with 23 steals, drew 15 ejections and blocked eight shots for a Gators squad that allowed a little more than five goals per game.

“Focus on the defense and the offense will come,” Frank said. “To be able to either have Vivian play against their 2-meter player, or to just take someone out of the play, is just valuable. That is the main separator.

“It’s not often the best offensive player is also your best defensive player.”

This season was the culmination of a senior group that had been building to this season, with Golub being the final piece of the puzzle. But it took her a year to get there. She attended Menlo School her freshman year of high school, mainly so she could go to class with sister C.C. Golub, who was a senior that year.

But Vivian Golub always had her eye on the Gators and transferred up the street to SHP beginning her sophomore season, reuniting her with teammates Szczerba and Megan Newby.

“Megan and Natalia and I have been playing together for 10 years,” Golub said, including the time spent as teammates at Stanford Water Polo Club. “SHP was a better fit for who I am. … And I wanted to play with my friends.”

“We lucked into that one,” Frank said.

But even Frank knew that Golub would be the key piece to help push the Gators to the top of the Nor Cal heap.

“I had known who she was,” Frank said. “When I heard she was transferring (to SHP), to have that piece added with everything else, was what put us over the top.

“Before it was, ‘I hope we can do it.’ The last three years, I was pretty confident we would get it done. And we did this year.”