IRVINE – Ocean View’s crowd rose to its feet and cheered Saturday as the Seahawks climbed from the pool after the CIF-SS Division 6 girls water polo final.
For the third consecutive season, Ocean View fell in the section’s biggest splash, falling to top-seeded Pasadena Poly and left-hander Lindsey Kelleher, 10-4, at the Woollett Aquatics Center.
Despite the result, the Seahawks’ faithful didn’t miss the significance of its team advancing to the final once again. And they weren’t alone.
“(We) didn’t want to just make it again,” Ocean View coach Melissa Fernandez said, “but it’s a challenge just to be here. We had challenging games every single round. We didn’t have a single game that wasn’t a challenge. … Not very many teams make it.”
Ocean View (25-7) was one of the final five in Orange County playing, but unlike the others, the second-seeded Seahawks were in a higher division than last season. The deeper waters showed in the play of Kelleher. The former U.S. cadet team player helped push the Panthers (26-3) to a 6-1 lead at halftime against Ocean View, the Division 7 runner-up in 2013-14.
The Princeton-bound senior scored five goals, racked up nine steals and drew three penalties (converting two).
Kelleher collected most of her steals guarding promising center Shannon Graham, who didn’t score until 2:45 left in the fourth.
The Panthers also effectively pressed the perimeter and maintained position against attacker Elena Isogawa (one goal, four steals). The Seahawks didn’t score until Nikki Langley (two goals) fired a perimeter strike from 8 meters in off the bottom of the crossbar with 2:24 left in the first half to trim Poly’s lead to 5-1.
“Poly was a great team,” said Ocean View senior goalie Alyssa Welfringer, who made 12 saves. “A lot of the girls are pretty bummed … but we still have a really young team, and I definitely expect to see them back next year. And once it settles in … they’ll realize that we moved up a division and we still came back.”
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com