The best wrestlers in the CIF Southern Section will convene at Citizens Business Bank Arena this weekend for the Masters Meet.
The top nine wrestlers in each weight will advance to the CIF State Tournament. Last year, 26 O.C. wrestlers finished in the top nine.
Trabuco Hills, Calvary Chapel and Irvine lead all county schools with six wrestlers in the Masters field.
Calvary Chapel’s Luciano Arroyo is the county’s lone returning Masters Meet champion.
Wrestling begins both days at 10 a.m. The medal matches are scheduled to begin at 2:30 p.m. on Saturday.
Tickets are $15 for adults, $7 for students with valid student I.D. and children (ages three-13). Parking is $10.
For girls, this weekend is the CIF State Tournament in Visalia. A list of O.C. girls competing can be found at OCVarsity.com
– DAMIAN CALHOUN
GIRLS WATER POLO
The conquering spirit of Santa Ana Valley’s girls water polo program continues.
The Falcons, who feature mostly players who learned how to swim during high school, will appear in the CIF-SS semifinals for the first time since 2012 when they play Division 5 top-seeded Pasadena Poly at Ocean View on Wednesday at 5:30 p.m.
Santa Ana Valley produced a similar script a few years ago, capturing consecutive CIF Division 7 titles under longtime coach Fred Lammers.
Lammers has since retired, but Valley is back in the semifinals under second-year coach Peter Sophabmixay, a FINA-certified referee and assistant in the Falcons’ athletic department.
In the quarterfinals Saturday, Valley (24-7) rallied from a four-goal deficit in the third period to edge Malibu, 9-8, in overtime.
“We’re very proud,” said Sophabmixay, a graduate of Valley. “We’re going to fight and we’re going to compete against our division and league. … We’ve got six seniors out there and we’ve stuck together.”
Senior co-captain Monica Garcia scored three goals against Malibu and leads the Falcons with 78 goals.
Her fellow co-captain, Cindy Aguayo, scored late in the fourth period to force overtime against Malibu. She leads the team with 108 steals.
Senior center Jocelyn Gomez chipped in three goals Saturday.
Sophabmixay said veteran assistant Erik Terwilliger is another key ingredient. Terwilliger, a former El Toro standout, specializes in goalie coaching and works with promising sophomore Samantha Martinez.
Sophabmixay also is proud of the team’s success in the classroom. The varsity carries an average grade-point average of 3.55.
In the other Division 5 semifinal, Tesoro plays Xavier Prep at Indio at 4 p.m.
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The Woollett Aquatics Center will play host to the semifinals in Division 1, Division 2 and Division 3 on Wednesday, starting at 3:30 p.m.
– DAN ALBANO
GIRLS SOCCER
County teams were stingy on defense in the opening round of the CIF-SS playoffs.
Of the 23 teams that advanced, 15 won with shutouts, including seven clean sheets in Division 1. O.C. winners across the seven divisions outscored their opponents by an overwhelming margin, 57-9.
San Clemente, Huntington Beach, Troy and Mater Dei in Division 1, St. Margaret’s in Division 3 and Estancia in Division 4 all won by three or more goals in shutout performances.
The second round of the CIF-SS playoffs is Tuesday.
– ZACH CAVANAGH, Contributing writer
