AMAZING ENDING: Sonora players and Coach Jason Wilson celebrate in the pool after scoring a last-second goal to defeat La Habra, 11-10, in the CIF-SS Division VI championship game. STEVE ZYLIUS, THE ORANGE COUNTY REGISTER |
Olguin's last-second shot wins title for Sonora (with video)
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She scores on long lob shot to beat La Habra, 11-10, in Division VI championship game.
IRVINE La Habra coach Jim Crowther sat on the ground smiling but stunned.
Sonora coach Jason Wilson dove into the water and joined the celebration.
Sara Olguin's buzzer-beating goal from just beyond mid-pool created opposite reactions at the end of a thrilling CIF-SS Division VI girls water polo final Saturday.
On the final play of regulation, the Sonora senior scored on a medium-height lob shot to lift fourth-seeded Sonora past city rival and second-seeded La Habra, 11-10, at William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.
La Habra's Kristie Romero scored with one second left to knot the score, 10-10. Sonora (26-7) used that final second to win it.
With no timeouts available to either team, the players lined up in the middle of the pool. Brittany Reed put the ball into play by passing back a few meters to Olguin, who quickly released a shot that turned into her match-high sixth goal.
It seemed like it was up there forever, Crowther said.
When it first left her hand, I thought it was over the goal by two feet. But the longer it stayed up there, the more I went, Oh, my God, it's got a chance.'
Like one of the afternoon's raindrops, Olguin's shot kept falling and eventually landed on the fly into the back of the net.
Crowther said goalie Stephanie Hernandez did tip the shot.
I was ready for overtime, Wilson said.
I can't even say that the team that played better won. One second from halfcourt, that's amazing.
Reed said Sonora practices last-second shots. The junior has seen Olguin make the mid-pool shot in practice but never in a game.
We've done it a lot of times but it usually goes over the net, said Olguin, who has a county-leading 149 goals.
I give a lot of credit to our goalie, Hena Garcia, for letting me practice on her. I do practice on her shooting from halfcourt all the time.
On Saturday, the payoff was Sonora's first Southern Section water polo title boys or girls and a trip to next week's Masters.
It also was Sonora's first CIF team title in any sport since it won the Division II baseball title in 1995.
But baseball wasn't the other CIF title Olguin was thinking about. She remembered that her mother, Valerie, won a girls team title in field hockey in the 1970s.
Sonora, co-champion of the Freeway League with La Habra (21-12), scored the first three goals of the fourth period to seemingly take control.
Sonora's Stephanie Roy turned an exclusion drawn by Reed into a power-play strike and a 10-8 lead for the Raiders with 1:48 left.
But Romero answered by scoring two of her team-high five goals to tie the score.
Romero's five goals were a season-high. The senior also added three field blocks and an assist. Garcia had 15 saves and three steals.
Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com
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