CdM finishes off Wilson
Nearly two weeks separated the first and second game of the season for the Corona del Mar High boys’ water polo team.
Still, it was easy to get a sense of deja vu on the CdM pool deck Tuesday, as the Sea Kings played host to rival Long Beach Wilson in a nonleague match.
The Bruins rallied from a 6-3 deficit to tie the score in the fourth quarter, just as visiting Huntington Beach had in the season opener.
This time, however, CdM showed a finishing kick.
Senior Foster Hoose scored the eventual game-winning goal as the Sea Kings won, 8-6, to improve to 1-1 on the young season. The result turned out unlike the game against the Oilers, when Huntington Beach scored six straight goals and won, 9-7.
“We’ve been emphasizing keeping our composure and making sure that we were focused and ready,” said CdM senior Vincent Ong, whose two goals tied him for team-best honors with senior center Brendan Hack and junior center Tamir Avital. “ I think that we did a really good job of making sure we were composed for the fourth quarter. Even though they started coming back, we kept on battling. We held our ground.”
The game was a rematch of a memorable CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal match from last year, when Wilson rallied from an 8-1 halftime deficit before falling, 10-9. There’s plenty of history there between the two storied programs, which have combined for 24 CIF titles in boys’ water polo (13 for CdM, 11 for Wilson).
CdM coach Barry O’Dea lives in Long Beach, and his daughters play club polo at Long Beach Shores. Also, he said one of the Wilson assistant coaches, Scott Penttila, is his former assistant at Brea Olinda.
Again on Tuesday, similar to the postseason last year, Coach Jeff Nesmith’s Bruins did not give up.
Corona del Mar, ranked No. 5 in Division 1, led 6-4 entering the fourth quarter before the rally from No. 10 Wilson (2-2). First it was Wilson’s Chris Robertson beating the crashing goalie and scoring from two meters. Then, Wilson senior Spencer Allen drew a penalty shot on a counterattack Maxwell Vandevert put it away, tying the score at 6-6 with 4:14 left in the game.
But Hoose scored with 3:05 left, after a cross pass from CdM junior Will Rodosky. Hoose stuck it past Wilson goalie Seth Seaboch into the lower-left corner with 3:05 left. It was CdM’s first goal in more than nine minutes, since Avital scored from center early in the third quarter.
“We needed to score goals,” said Hoose, who had three assists, a field block and two steals. “We were more focusing on defense, but we kind of lost track of our offense ... That team never gives up. Just like last year in the [quarterfinal], they never gave up, and today they were giving us a fight.”
Wilson, which finished scoreless in eight power-play chances, had chances to again equalize. The Bruins failed to score with the extra man in the final two minutes. They had another chance to tie the game, when Allen drew another penalty shot. But this time, Vandevert’s skip shot went off the crossbar with 1:26 to play.
On the other end, CdM would get an insurance goal. CdM sophomore Henry Wilde drew a power play which the Sea Kings, who only finished two for seven themselves with the extra player, would finally convert. Hoose passed to Hack, who scored with 54 seconds left to provide the final score of 8-6.
O’Dea could breathe a sigh of relief.
“They’re a lot better than they were during the summer, [when] we beat them by like 13 [goals],” O’Dea said. “Listen, it’s CdM-Long Beach. The Battle of the Bay game is the same way. It doesn’t matter where the two teams really are [in the rankings]. Those games, everybody seems to step up a little bit better.”
Hack drew four exclusions for CdM, which got an assist each from seniors Jon Polos and Andres White. Junior goalie Tristin Ospina shined through three quarters, with nine saves — including one on a penalty shot — and a steal. But Ospina’s hamstring started giving him issues, so junior Matt Moran was inserted in goal in the fourth quarter and made two saves.
Junior Will Ueberroth also had a key steal in the final minute for CdM, which opens play at the South Coast Tournament on Thursday. The Sea Kings are the No. 5 seed in the 32-team tournament and open against Tesoro on Thursday at 5 p.m. at CdM.
If the Sea Kings win their first two games of the tournament on Thursday, they would likely rematch with the No. 4-seeded Oilers in the tournament quarterfinals on Friday.
“I’m not going to start looking forward to that quite yet,” O’Dea said. “If we do get a chance to see them, I think it’ll be interesting, but right now we’re 1-1 and we can’t get too far ahead of ourselves.”
Still, the Sea Kings do appear confident going into their first tournament of the season, as they look to outperform their seeding. Mater Dei, Foothill and Loyola are the top-three seeded teams.
“I think you’re definitely going to see an upset by us,” Hoose said.
