The Lake Forest Scouts girls water polo team started its season on Monday, and the girls are hopeful to improve from last year’s epic season. They got to the second round of Sectionals a season ago, but suffered a tragic loss to the big time rival Libertyville.

There is going to be a big hole to fill this season with the loss of three graduating seniors, especially with the reigning MVP, leading scorer, and all around goofball Grace Donahue not playing this year. There is definitely going to be different vibe in the pool this season, but this year’s senior class is not going to let their team play for nothing. Holly Malnati isn’t planning to let her season be wasted, “I think that we are ready for a fresh start with a new coach this year, especially in losing such a powerhouse in Grace Donahue, people are going to have to step up, including myself.”

In addition to losing some great players, head coach Jessie Goldner got happily engaged this summer and moved  to start a new life together. There is a lot of excitement for the new coach, however, as Anna Colletti created the water polo team at Resurrection High School and was selected second team All-Sectional when she was a student there. She then went on to play club water polo at Illinois State University for two years. Last year’s assistant coach Pat Boothe is going to keep his same position season.

There is a lot of hope for seniors Holly Malnati, Isabelle Moore, and Amalia Liguori-Coneff, who are coming back for their fourth year of girls water polo. Last year, along with Grace Donahue and Catherine Pompe Van Meerdervoort, Isabelle Moore was named the third captain. A fellow teammate says, “Isabelle is a tank. She doesn’t let anyone stop her from making her drive to get ball side and score; you are not going to want to be on the receiving end of one of her shots.” Amalia “brick wall” Liguori-Coneff is back as the starting goalie on varsity. Every sport with a goalie usually gives that player the most amount of protection, given the fact that hard objects are usually hurled at their face at incredible speeds. In water polo, though, Liguori-Coneff is wearing as much padding as the rest of the field–just the classic water polo cap that only covers the ears. She put her whole body on the line every time she treads in the pool for the Scouts. The senior class is rounded out with Anna Skaleski, Alma Vedra, Kristen Coughlan, Casey Slingerland, making them all worthy contenders for playing time.

Fabled alumni Grace Donahue had some motivational words for her girls, “The team has a ton of potential in and out if the pool this year. There’s not a group of girls more suited (literally and figuratively) to kill the game this year. Using patience and resilience towards each other each other and the program, this season can be whatever you make of it. 0-0 ladies!”

The girls’ first match is Tuesday against Highland Park at Lake Forest. Other notable matches include March 19th at Vernon Hills, April 10th versus Stevenson, and April 17th versus Libertyville.