Santa Margarita’s reign at the Steve Pal Memorial boys water polo tournament appeared in jeopardy after the first period of the final against Servite on Saturday night.
The visiting Friars and center Max Weber scored the first four goals and led by three after seven minutes.
But after an intense challenge during the first-period break from Coach Paden Mitchell, Santa Margarita and center Spencer Lupin started chasing its Trinity League rival. It took the No. 7 Eagles until the fourth period but they finally caught and sank No. 8 Servite, 13-12, to claim the tournament for a third consecutive season.
Sam Slobodien snapped a 12-12 tie in the fourth by scoring on a counterattack, putting away a pass from Lupin with 1:20 left to give the Eagles their first lead. Slobodien sparked the sprint toward the Servite end by stealing an outlet pass near mid-pool.
Santa Margarita’s defense then held in the final 30 seconds against a power-play chance as Lupin secured a loose ball.
Lupin scored all eight of his goals in the final three periods for Santa Margarita (21-5), which also beat Servite (17-10) in league.
“It’s a championship game,” Lupin said. “We started off kind of slow but I wasn’t going to let it out of our reach.”
Santa Margarita goalie Ryan Melosini helped seal the victory by stretching for a man-advantage save with 52 seconds left. The Eagles held Servite to an 0-for-3 effort with the extra attacker in the fourth.
Santa Margarita also got a key counterattack goal in the fourth from impressive freshman Chasen Petersen and two goals and three assists from Slobodien.
“They responded well,” Mitchell said of his challenge.
Weber scored three of his five goals in the first. Stephen Marcin and Alejandro Sherratt combined for five goals. Sherratt netted three. Goalie Jeff Sherer added seven saves.
“Some of it might be a little bit of fatigue,” Servite coach Mustafa Hassan said of the loss. “Long day. We had a long, tough game in the semifinals as well.”
In the semifinals, Servite defeated Righetti, 16-15, in double sudden-death overtime on a strike by Weber. Santa Margarita defeated Claremont, 7-5, in the other semifinal.
At the Memorial Cup:
Foothill 10, The Bishop’s of La Jolla 7: Bobby Lee scored three goals and Chas Hornecker and Gavin Scott each added two as the Knights (19-6) finished third at Bellarmine Prep in San Jose. Foothill lost in the semifinals to eventual champion Coronado, 10-8. Corona del Mar finished fifth.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
