**Warren’s Sean “Sonny” Lopez takes a shot in a non-league water polo game against Hoover at Warren High School on Monday. Hoover defeated Warren 12-6. (Photo by Mia Hattery)**

DOWNEY – A new era has begun with a familiar face around the pool these days for both the girls and boys water polo teams at Warren High School.

That new face is coach Celeste Moreira and she is no stranger to winning.

After a couple of coaches in the last four years, stability could be right around the corner for the Bears water polo program.

Moreira, a 2013 graduate, is right where she belongs and her smile and pure excitement shows. Additionally, the players all agree that the program is on the upswing.

“I’m very excited to be back and very excited to be with a great group of boys,” Moreira said.

She was a member of both back-to-back CIF-Southern Section Championship teams in 2011-’12. The Bears also won the San Gabriel Valley League Championships both years.

Moreira began her coaching career this past week with three games, starting with a blow-out, 21-6, win over visiting Pioneer in the 2022 opener.

The next game (Monday September 12) was a complete 360 degrees from the opener, as visiting Hoover (Glendale) defeated the Bears, 12-6, for a hard-fought victory.

Tuesday (Sept. 13) was another close game the entire way, as host La Quinta handed the Bears (1-2) their second consecutive loss, 8-5.

Warren 21, Pioneer 6

In the first game against Pioneer, Warren was led by sophomore utility Sean “Sonny” Lopez with a game-high five goals. He was followed by junior utility Nathan Labrin and junior utility Gabriel Labrado with four goals each.

Three other players had a pair of goals – sophomore utility Matthew Casalegno, senior utility Christopher Golden and junior utility Carlos Banuelos. Senior utility Tony Batres and Chris Gonzalez added one each.

“It was a nice win to start the season,” said Moreira, after their opening-game win over Pioneer.

The Bears took a 3-1 lead after the first period, as Golden, Lopez and Banuelos all scored.

Warren opened the game up in the second period with six goals, as Lopez added three to lead the Bears to a 9-1 halftime lead.

Gonzalez, Banuelos and Labrado added single goals.

Pioneer scored three goals in the third period, but the Bears responded with five goals, led by Casalegno with a pair of scores to take a 14-4 lead heading into the fourth period.

Labrado had three goals in the final period and Labrin added two.

Box score
Pioneer 1 0 3 2 - 6
Warren 3 6 5 7 - 21

Hoover 12, Warren 6

In the feature game at the Murdoch Fraser Aquatics Center, both teams went toe-to-toe in the first half and into the third period, with Hoover leading by a single goal after the first three periods, before outscoring Warren 5-0 in the last period to win going away.

“(Monday Sept, 12) was a tough game, but our boys did a really good job on defense and it was a great game,” Moriera said.

Scoring three goals for the second game in a row was Labrin, along with single goals from Batres, Casalegno and Golden.

Leading Hoover with four goals each was Menua Iskandaryan and sophomore utility Davo Harutnunyan. Center Rocco Boyadjian added two goals and David Tarakhchyan and Haik Aghadjanian had one each.

Harutnunyan and Boyadjian scored for Hoover in close to take a 2-0 lead with 3:10 left in the opening period.

Casalegno took a pass from Labrado inside 5-meters with just 10 seconds left in the period to cut the lead in half.

In the second period, Warren goalie Jake Jureidini made the first of many saves at the post from going in the net.

The Bears got even seconds after an exclusion was called on a Hoover player, as Labrin scored the first of his two goals in the period to tie it at 2-2 at the 4:57 mark. That was the first of four ties in the game.

A minute and a half later, Hoover’s Harutnunyan scored for a 3-2 lead.

Warren again tied the game, 3-3, with Labrin’s second tally of the period on a pass from Golden at 2:01.

The first 6 on 5 advantage for Hoover resulted in a goal by Iskandaryan with 1:28 left in the half.

The offense opened up for both teams in the third period, with five goals by Hoover and three by the Bears.

The first 5-meter penalty shot of the game resulted in a goal for Warren, as Batres evened the game at 4-4 early in the period.

Just 19 seconds later, Golden excited the Warren crowd with a break-away and swam half the length of the pool with nothing but the Hoover goalie in front of him. Golden pulled up and scored in the right side of the goal for the 5-4 lead. That was the last lead of the game by the Bears.

After a Warren exclusion that resulted in another 6 on 5 for Hoover, Boyadjian tied the game at 5-5. The goal was the Tornados first of three consecutive goals in the game to take an 7-5 lead.

With 23 seconds left in the period, Golden passed into Labrin, who took a soft shot into the left corner of the goal, to trail, 7-6.

“Last week (Pioneer) was a fun game, but we didn’t learn much, but this game (Hoover) we had to try and they were pushing us and they were a very strict team,” Labrin said. “They punished us when we messed up.

“You couldn’t tell, but I was sweating under all of that water.”

The fourth period was all Hoover offensively, as they scored five consecutive goals. Jureidini made some nice saves for the Bears in the period.

Box score
Pioneer 1 0 3 2 - 6
Warren 3 6 5 7 - 21

La Quinta 8, Warren 5

With the score tied 3-3 at the half, La Quinta outscored Warren, 5-2 in the second half for the win.

Box score
Warren 2 1 1 1 - 5
La Quinta 2 1 2 3 - 8

Warren continues non-league action with two more games next week at Cal High on Tuesday and will host Whittier on Thursday.

The Bears begin a new era in a reorganized league beginning September 27 against rival Downey in the Gateway League, which is one of two leagues in the newly formed Suburban Valley Conference. The other three teams in the league are La Mirada, Paramount and Gahr.

What they said:

Celeste Moreira, Warren coach: “Student first, athlete second. I try to check it every two weeks.

“This is where I wanted to work and I’m excited to call Warren my new home. I’m very fortunate that my boys are high-achieving students. All of them are going to go to college. They are not allowed to fall below the radar, because I will catch them.

“When I got hired, [the administration] said ‘welcome back.’ It feels really good to be back.”

Tony Batres, Warren senior utility: “I’m just here to finish strong and learn as much as I can. This game (Hoover) definitely helped me do that and I look forward to other games that will help me do that. They were good at drawing the fouls.

“{Coach Moriera] knows what she is doing and it reflects on us.”

Nathan Labrin, Warren junior utility: “I really like this sport. Last year I was on JV and this year playing on varsity is really a game changer. We communicate and I feel more confident in my shots.”

Sean “Sonny” Lopez, Warren sophomore utility: “(Monday) I learned what not to do and I made mistakes that I can learn from.

“We all got tired but at the end of the day we should be prepared. (Hoover) communicated with each other and that’s something that we need to work on as a team.

“It’s good playing for [coach Celeste]. She pushes us hard and it’s a real learning experience for us.”

Christopher Golden, Warren senior utility: “That first game (Pioneer) it was great to play a team that wasn’t as experienced. We were all learning at the same time. It was our first game of the season and we have a lot of new guys. Last year we had a lot of seniors that graduated.

“This game (Hoover) was really putting it to a test. One of the biggest takeaways was when you see mistakes in yourself, learn to correct them and when you see mistakes on the other team, learn to take action on them.

“It’s those little mistakes that really weaken your attack and your defense. When you see those mistakes, take action and try to score on that.”

Warren High water polo in good hands with new coach

What they said: