Mater Dei and Harvard-Westlake’s first opportunity to renew their boys water polo rivalry arrives this weekend in Santa Barbara.
The fourth Santa Barbara Boys Invitational, the first major tournament of the season, begins in earnest Friday and concludes with Saturday’s 2:25 p.m. final at Santa Barbara.
Harvard-Westlake of Studio City, which last fall dethroned Mater Dei as the three-time defending CIF Division 1 champion, is seeded first while Mater Dei, the trournament’s defending champion, is second.
While Mater Dei’s streak of CIF titles and 105 consecutive victories overall ended last season, the Monarchs have claimed an impressive 13 consecutive regular-season tournaments.
The tournament streak dates back to 2009. Mater Dei fell in the finals of the North-South Challenge to El Toro but claimed its final tournament that fall, the Memorial Cup in Northern California.
Laguna Beach is seeded third followed by Loyola of Los Angeles and Huntington Beach in the usually entertaining four-five cluster.
Other Southern California entries in the field of 24 teams are: Newport Harbor, Los Osos of Rancho Cucamonga, Agoura, Murrieta Valley, Dana Hills, Dos Pueblos, Cathedral Catholic of San Diego, Servite, Righetti, Claremont, Santa Barbara, Orange Lutheran, San Marcos and Cerritos.
The Northern California teams are: Miramonte, Campolindo, St. Francis, Jesuit and Acalanes.
The tournament host sites are Santa Barbara, Dos Pueblos and San Marcos. On Thursday, the tournament new, play-in games for the four-lowest seeded teams in each group.
