El Toro’s girls water polo players made their traditional postgame jump to high-five first-year coach Justin Johnson on Thursday night.
The former national team player towers at 6-foot-7 and holds his hand high, but the Chargers seemed to have some extra bounce in their step and spirit after one of their biggest victories.
Cami Martinez scored a counterattack goal off a steal by Sydney Tatum 23 seconds into sudden-death overtime to help the No. 7 Chargers knock off No. 6 Los Alamitos, 10-9, in the second round of the Irvine Southern California Championships at Foothill.
El Toro (17-5) rallied from a three-goal deficit early in the second half to reach today’s 6 p.m. quarterfinal against second-ranked and host Foothill, a 13–3 winner against Cathedral Catholic of San Diego in the second round.
“All of us were really stoked to win that game just because we were down,” said El Toro senior Ashley Riley, who scored a game-high four goals. “This definitely helps with confidence.”
El Toro has been one of the hottest teams in the county but fell two weekends ago to Montebello and lost its No.1 ranking in CIF-SS Division 2.
The Chargers showed plenty of promise in the third period Thursday. After Los Alamitos (16-7) opened a 6-3 advantage, El Toro scored four consecutive goals in a span of about three minutes to take a 7-6 lead. Riley netted the final three goals of the surge.
Los Alamitos hung tough and the score deadlocked at 7, 8 and 9 in regulation. The Griffins took a 9-8 lead on a backhanded strike from center by Karley Kraft with 2:07 left in the fourth. El Toro forced sudden-death on a power-play strike by Maddy Damato on a pass from Maddy Parenteau with 57 seconds left and a save at the buzzer by Tori Rainone.
The Griffins won the sprint to open sudden-death but a quick steal by Tatum led to the winning counterattack by Martinez.
“That’s the way counterattack works,” Johnson said. “If you play solid defense and you push, push, push, third and fourth quarter, that’s when you really start to see the benefits.”
In other second-round games:
No. 1 Laguna Beach 21, Murrieta Valley 2: Makenzie Fischer scored seven goals and Aria Fischer added six to lead the defending champion Breakers (22-0) at the Woollett Aquatics Center.
No. 3 Newport Harbor 10, No. 10 Mater Dei 2: Rachel Whitelegge scored three goals as the Sailors (16-5) cruised at Woollett.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
