There was talk before the Irvine Southern California girls water polo championships that an upset could strike at some point.
That spot turned out to be Friday night in the quarterfinals at Corona del Mar.
Hailey Gellert scored from about 5 meters with 3:13 left in the fourth period and San Marcos fought off two power plays in the final 2½ minutes as the Royals rallied to stun fourth-seeded Corona del Mar, 6-5, in a result that could shuffle the CIF-SS Division 1 rankings.
San Marcos, ranked sixth in Division 1, will crash today’s semifinals by taking on top-ranked and defending champion Laguna Beach at 10 a.m. at the Woollett Aquatics Center. No. 2 Foothill and No. 3 Newport Harbor will clash in the 11 a.m. semifinal.
The Royals closed out their first victory against Corona del Mar (16-6) by stopping power plays with steals with 2:15 and 45 seconds left in the fourth and a steal by UC Irvine-bound goalie Jenna Phreaner with 1:48 remaining.
Corona del Mar, ranked fourth in Division 1, got one last chance to force overtime but turned the ball over in the finals seconds for moving forward on a free throw from about 6 meters.
“That was pretty good. I’m proud of my kids,” San Marcos coach Chuckie Roth said. “This was something that I think the girls kind of wanted to achieve: compete with the best schools in the country.”
San Marcos shut out Corona del Mar in the second half. Maddie Musselman skipped in a shot on the counterattack with 47 seconds left in the first half for a 5-2 lead, but the Sea Kings didn’t score against the Royals’ press again.
“It was extremely sloppy on our end,” CdM coach Ross Sinclair said. “The defense was fine. … (But) the game passed us. We were playing in the moment for the first half and instead of becoming players for the second half, we became spectators.”
Both teams had ample opportunities on the power play in the physical game but each struggled. San Marcos went 3 for 13 with the extra attacker while Corona del Mar finished 2 for 13. Bridgett Storm scored two power-play goals in the first period for Corona del Mar, but the Sea Kings closed with eight consecutive misfires on the specialty unit.
Corona del Mar goalie Heidi Ritner made three saves against the power play in the first and finished with 10 saves.
Megan Bergthold, Gellert and Paige Hauschild each scored twice for San Marcos, which reached its first semifinal.
In other quarterfinals:
No. 1 Laguna Beach 20, Royal 6: Makenzie Fischer scored seven goals to lead the Breakers (23-0) at Woollett.
No. 2 Foothill 10, El Toro 3: Julia Sellers scored three goals and Kenzi Snyder made nine saves to pace the host Knights (21-3).
No. 3 Newport Harbor 9, Dos Pueblos of Goleta 1: Chanel Schilling scored three goals to pace the Sailors (17-5) at Woollett.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
