By John Raffel | Advance Newspapers 
on March 23, 2018 8:26 AM

KENTWOOD – The East Kentwood girls water polo program took a major step forward last season and coach Jared Lane is confident even more progress can be made this spring.

“2017 was a season of great overall improvement, ending with a tough overtime loss at the regional tournament,” Lane said. “We have returned a good portion of our varsity-level players.”

The Falcons expect to even be better this year. Top-notch returning starters include goalie Amelia Wilcox, utility player Elizabeth Ejsmont, and center defender Kathryn Ejsmont.

 Key players to step up with additional minutes and responsibilities this season are center Kataryna Heatwole and utility player Rachel Ejsmont.

“We have a team that knows the game well,” Lane said. “We must work to be the smarter team to win games this year, as we don’t have size. We have improved overall speed. We will need to improve our ability to communicate, deal with pressure, and move the ball quickly.

“We have good potential, but it will take team commitment toward a common goal in order to realize it.”

Lane is confident the Falcons can have a strong regular season and compete in every game. But he’s also looking to have the Falcons play their best water polo by the end of the season, then come up with the type of championship efforts in the postseason that eluded the squad last year.