The strength of Canyon’s girls water polo team is its well-rounded abilities.
Segerstrom learned that lesson Saturday night in the CIF-SS Division 4 quarterfinals.
The top-seeded Comanches used a tight press defense, strong center play and plenty of hustle to handle the Jaguars, 10-4, at Santa Ana Valley.
Canyon (23-8) advanced to the semifinals for the first time since 2004 when it featured future two-time Olympian Courtney Mathewson. The Comanches play Claremont, an 11-10 winner against Yucaipa, on Wednesday.
“This is the goal,” Canyon senior Madison Weber said of reaching the semifinals. “This is what we put everything toward. Weekends. Days off. We were here. It didn’t matter the weather.”
Canyon held Segerstrom (23-9) scoreless for the final 8 minute, 34 seconds.
“They played very good defense,” said Segerstrom coach Tim Fredericksen, whose squad fell to Canyon, 14-13, in December. “They press very well. We had a tough time with it today.”
Canyon co-coach Steve Anderson credited Emily Gonzalez for defending center and Weber for marking freshman attacker Destiny Hernandez, who didn’t score.
“That was the key to everything because four goals, you don’t win too many games,” Canyon co-coach Steve Anderson said of the duo of Gonzalez and Weber.
Canyon’s Kylie Stablein added a team-high five steals, while goalie Elizabeth Horan made six saves.
Center Kendal Montgomery paced Canyon’s attack with four goals. A hustling Kamren Thurmond scored a rebound goal with two seconds left in the third period for a 7-4 lead. Delaney Wilder netted another rebound to open scoring in the fourth.
“This was a very complete game,” Anderson said. “This was a total team effort. … We are a balanced team.”
Paola Barajas scored twice for Segerstrom while Jacqueline Lopez added seven saves.
Also in Division 4:
Peninsula 8, Laguna Hills 7 (OT): Bailey Lloyd scored three goals and added seven steals but the Hawks fell to the No. 3 seed.
In Division 3:
Villa Park 14, Rancho Cucamonga 6: Lindsy Peterson scored five goals and Morgan Steiwig made 10 saves for the top-seeded Spartans (22-9), who play Righetti in the semifinals.
In Division 2:
Agoura 12, Troy 6: Karly Feenstra and Megan O’Malley scored twice at Sunny Hills as the Warriors (24-7) lost to the No. 1 seed.
In Division 5:
Tesoro 10, Alemany 5: Kavina Shah made 15 saves and Emily Diacono added three goals and two steals for the host Titans (15-16), who play Xavier Prep in the semifinals.
Santa Ana Valley 9, Malibu 8 (OT): Monica Garcia had three goals and six steals and Samantha Martinez made 11 saves as the visiting Falcons (24-7) rallied to reach the semifinals against top-seeded Pasadena Poly.
Malibu led, 7-3, at halftime but the Falcon took the second half, 4-1. Cindy Aguayo scored the eventual game-winning goal in overtime.
Pasadena Poly defeated Fullerton, 11-7.
In Division 6:
Downey 11, Garden Grove 8: Allison Williams, Andrea Corrigan and Jocelyn Hoang each scored twice for the visiting Argonauts, who trailed, 7-4, at halftime.
In Division 7:
Whittier 8, Western 7 (OT): Daniela Pinedo scored with 38 seconds left in the first sudden-death overtime as the fourth-seeded Cardinal edged the Pioneers (20-8) at Kennedy. Karly Brady made 12 saves for Western.
Contact the writer: dalbano@scng.com
