Coach's Corner

LA JOLLA, CA – The start of the 2025 high school girls season treated San Diego county with a great Open Division preview, with Bishop’s defeating Valhalla 9-5.

The Knights look to repeat as Open Division champions for the eighth consecutive year, led by UC Irvine commit, Aileen Shin, who was recognized by the CIF-committee as the ‘Player of the Year.’ Other stars around her such as Farren Moss, Fiona Salatka, and Ava Grandinetti (all made last year’s All-CIF Teams) made their mark throughout the contest, as the Knights had a noticeable number of counter-goals and outside shots.

Meanwhile for the Norsemen, led by junior Gia Jacob – a member of the Women’s Cadet National team, come into the 2025 campaign as one of the top projected Open Division teams and possibly the one that could compete for the top spot in February. Like many teams at the beginning of the season, Valhalla looked a ‘tick-off,’ with a countless number of 6-on-5 opportunities missed, not taking advantage of any inside water that was presented to on-ball perimeter players, and a multitude of counter opportunities given up in transition.

Despite what the final was, make no mistake about these two teams being closer than you possibly think, especially towards the Open Division tournament. Both of these rosters are projected accurately by the CIF committee, with not only the power-ranking points that have been accumulated from the previous season, but as well as how loaded these rosters are currently. Do NOT be surprised if the Knights and the Norsemen meet again down the line.

COACHING THOUGHTS [BISHOPS] – This is a team that collectively has great speed and awareness in transition that can play from 2-meter to 2-meter most of the game. Frontline counters were extremely noticeable, especially when Valhalla’s backline offense would ‘ball-watch’ on an imminent change of possession (entry, shot, turnover). I also thought their counter-rotation when it comes to 5-man defense was excellent. Jacob is one of the Norsemen’s lethal shooters on the strong side that has to be accounted for and I thought they had a really great plan of X5 gapping between 5-spot and 4-spot shooter (favoring more 4-spot sliding center), giving X4 and X1 to play tighter on the strong side shooters (Jacob in this case). One area that was concerning – however still early in the season – were the number of unexpected turnovers throughout – whether that may have been offensives from within the halfcourt or in transition. I expect this to be ‘cleaned up’ as the season moves along.

COACHING THOUGHTS [VALHALLA] – One of Valhalla’s many advantages that a lot of the top teams in San Diego have is continuity and familiarity from within the club landscape, and into the high school landscape. Most of their girls have been playing with each other, coming over from Odin WPC that allows them to play with great chemistry and trust in big spots. If you watched the game today without knowing this fact, it wouldn’t seem like it. Like previously mentioned however, it is early in the season and the girls will eventually start clicking. With Bishop’s guards playing physical and fronting high throughout a halfcourt possession, Valhalla’s centers and post-up players were able to gain a lot of on-ball exclusions upon an entry being made, however couldn’t convert on more than they would have liked. With at least three to four good shooters, along with a few having post-up ability, Valhalla did a good job using schemes to match the personnel that they have – including using the 3-3 (opening up outside shooting and utilizing quick catch-and-shot ability down below), as well as going into a double-post (look for early cross pass opportunity or entry before swinging strong-side for a possible 2-on-2 isolation, also utilized a 32 pick that ultimately ended into a double).