Nobody expected much from the Auburn Mountainview boys water polo team this season.

With six seniors gone from last year’s eighth-place-at-state squad, and just four returnees – one senior, two juniors and a sophomore – the expectations were low, according to coach Justin Pritchard.

“We lost a lot of good kids,” he said. “We really came in thinking we were going to build for next year. We knew we had some good players coming out and some new guys because of all the recruiting we’ve done. But you never know how they’re going to do. They’ve exceeded all expectations.”

The young squad’s progress has been so impressive, in fact, that instead of focusing exclusively on the future, the Lions look to make the state tournament with a roster featuring eight freshman.

“We decided the bar needed to be raised higher,” Pritchard said.

So far, the Lions are 3-3 in league, 6-3 overall.

According to Pritchard, a big part of the team’s success was the offseason recruiting effort led by co-captains Hunter Arnold, a sophomore, and Stephen Creed, a junior.

“We got eight freshman and one sophomore to turn out,” Arnold said. “And that’s going to help a lot, especially after this year. We told them it was an easy letter and that it was a lot of fun once you got in the water. And our coach is a lot of fun. He’s pretty laid back. But when it’s time to work, he makes sure you get up to do it.”

“We got a couple of kids we didn’t think we would,” Creed said. “We got one from California (John Kim). He’s doing really well this year. And we got a couple of freshman who have helped us a lot, and everybody else has stepped up their game.

Arnold says the team will be strong on offense.

“Right now we’re pretty good at shooting,” he said. “We probably need to work on our defense, but we’re pretty strong at offense.”

The Lions have handled the mental side of the game.

“This is one of the smartest teams I’ve had,” Pritchard said. “You get kids who can throw hard, swim fast, but sometimes they don’t understand how to play. This team understands very well.

“(The learning curve) can be steep,” he added “Some kids say they don’t figure it out until their third year. … You get kids who have never really played a team sport before. They don’t get exposed to that until high school, so they have trouble knowing how to play team defense. Defense is the hardest thing to learn. We start there and try to work them into the offense.”

The young Lions have proven to be a quick study.

“We thought this year was going to be a planning and recruiting year to get ready for next year,” Creed said. “But we got some real good people helping us out this year. Everybody has just stepped it up, and when we play smart, we do really well.”

Pritchard says the Lions have the potential to become a force for seasons to come.

“No matter what happens this year, we’re going to be really tough next year,” he said. “I think we’ll be the team to beat next year.”

Auburn Mountainview played host to Kentridge on Thursday at the Auburn Pool, with results unavailable at press time.

The Lions host Rogers at 7 p.m. Saturday and travel to Enumclaw for 4:30 p.m. match Tuesday.