DIAMOND BAR – Despite a jump up in division and massive turnover on its roster, the Riverside Poly girls water polo team finds itself right back where it was a year ago – one win away from claiming a CIF title.
The reigning CIF-SS Division 5 champion Bears defeated Mission Viejo, 11-8, Wednesday night in the Division 4 semifinals.
Poly will face top-seeded Royal in the championship Saturday at the Woollett Aquatics Center.
“We’re kind of young this year, so it’s good to go back (to the finals),” said second-seeded Bears coach Mike Cardey, who had to replace five senior starters from last year’s team. “The girls put their hearts into it, and all the morning practices pay off.”
Senior utility Lauren Bywater, one of two returning starters along with junior driver Sara Dempsey, led all scorers with five goals, including two in the fourth quarter when Poly (20-10) had to hold off a late rally by the Diablos (26-5).
After Bywater’s second tally of the fourth made it 10-5 with 4:02 to play, Mission Viejo’s Skyler Newhouser-Flores scored back-to-back goals to keep the Diablos’ hopes alive, down 10-7, with just under a minute left.
Sarina Briseno scored her second goal of the game on a man advantage with 27 seconds left to seal the win for Poly.
“They weren’t going to stop,” Bywater said of the Diablos. “They kept going until the last minute.”
One of the keys to the Bears adapting to a wave of personnel changes this season was their shift from an offensive-minded team to a unit based on defensive pressure.
The success of that initative was evident in the first half, when Poly kept the Diablos scoreless until the 1:36 mark of the second period.
By that point, the Bears led, 4-1, and the lead grew to 7-1 early in the third period. Poly’s man-advantage defense was flawless, as the Diablos came up empty on all six power-play opportunities they had.
Mission Viejo went on a 3-1 run over the final 3:33 of the third on a goal from Newhouser-Flores and two goals by Natalie Cooper.
Newhouser-Flores finished with four goals, while Cooper had three for the Diablos.
Hannah Kersse also had two goals for Poly and Grace Halliday notched eight saves.
“We definitely had to work a lot harder, we had to get more team chemistry,” Bywater said. “It was just a goal of ours: make it to the finals, and then once you get there you can worry about the rest.”
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