Corona del Mar victory is made of steal

IRVINE - Corona del Mar used trickery at the start and gritty defense at the end to return to the top of CIF-Southern Section boys water polo Saturday.

The second-seeded Sea Kings rallied from a one-goal deficit entering the final period to emerge with an 11-10 victory against No. 1 seed Murrieta Valley in the Division 2 final at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.

Senior Hayden Leach sealed the victory with a steal on a ball-side drive coming out of a timeout by Murrieta Valley with 17 seconds left.

—————————————————————

PHOTOS: CHAMPIONSHIP SATURDAY SLIDE SHOW

—————————————————————

Leach also preserved the Sea Kings' one-goal lead with a steal coming out of Murrieta Valley's timeout with 47 seconds left in the fourth. But it was his final steal that sparked a wild celebration for one of Orange County's proudest water polo programs.

Corona del Mar (23-8) claimed a county-record 13th boys water polo crown (between Division 1 and 2) but first since 2001. Corona del Mar coach Barry O'Dea did a front flip into the pool during the celebration.

"It's just so exciting," O'Dea said. "I've got to hand it to my guys. We went down by two (late in the third). What can I say? They did it.

"And I told them I would do my job and get them here, but they're going to have to win it."

Chase Watson scored a team-high five goals for Corona del Ma,r but the Sea Kings won with a team effort.

Murrieta Valley (28-4) led, 10-8, with seconds left in the third, but Corona del Mar's Ben Zepfel scored on a power play with 14 seconds.

Evan Ramsey then won his fourth period-opening sprint of the match. And for the fourth time of the game, the Sea Kings scored. But this time, they had to work a bit harder.

Corona del Mar drew a penalty, but Murrieta Valley goalie Dylan Vrooman made the block with 6:31 left. The Sea Kings maintained possession and lefty Miles Carpenter scored from the perimeter with 6:02 left, tying the score, 10-10.

Zepfel scored the winner off a foul outside 5 meters with 2:51 left. The Sea Kings locked up the crown by holding Murrieta Valley scoreless for the final eight minutes.

Corona del Mar opened the game with a trick play. After Ramsey won the sprint, the Sea Kings held possession before passing back to goalie Bruce Bearer. All of Corona del Mar's players moved back to defense but Watson stopped and quickly moved back to 2 meters. Bearer passed the length of the pool and Watson scored just before the 30-second shot clock.

"Ramsey has been huge on that sprint all year," O'Dea said. "We wanted to loosen up right at the beginning of the game. ... We were really surprised it worked. Every goal was huge – it's a one-goal game."