Foothill keeps alive its semifinals streak (video)

IRVINE - Foothill's girls water polo team arrived at its Division I quarterfinal Friday with an up-and-down resume, but the Knights left riding the high of an upset victory.

Fifth-seeded Foothill used a strong defensive effort to stun No. 4 seed Los Alamitos, 7-6, at Beckman.

Goalie Katie Groff blocked a lob shot with 33 seconds left to secure a victory that sent Foothill (18-10) to the semifinals for the 10th consecutive season. Foothill will play No. 1-seeded Corona del Mar (28-1) in the semifinals on Wednesday night at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.

Los Alamitos (23-6) has been ranked ahead of Foothill most of the season and defeated the Knights, 8-5, at the recent Irvine tournament. But late in the third period Friday, the Knights held a commanding 6-2 lead.

"We knew what we were capable of and we showed it tonight," Foothill senior Brittany Zwirner said. "We knew a lot of people counted us out."

Foothill employed a strategy of fouling on the perimeter early in possessions and dropping that defender into 2 meters. The plan forced the Griffins to beat Groff from the outside, and it mostly worked.

Los Alamitos scored three of its four perimeter goals in the fourth when it was in comeback mode.

Foothill coach Dave Mikesell said his squad was well-prepared by first-year assistant coach Ryan Brown, an assistant on the U.S. men's team that captured the silver medal at the Beijing Games.

"We wouldn't been able to do this without the coaching staff," Foothill coach Dave Mikesell said. "Ryan Brown helped these kids out tremendously. ... They really responded well. That was the best I've ever seen this group of kids play in their entire history."

The Princeton-bound Zwirmer paced the defense with six steals and a field block against the power play. During one stretch of the second, Foothill's defense produced a field block by Zwirner and a steal by Olivia Cummins, who stretched on her back, on consecutive stands.

Foothill's defense also held the Griffins to 0 for 5 effort with the extra attacker.

Groff made one of her biggest saves when she tipped a power-play shot with about three minutes left to protect a 7-5 lead.

"That was huge," Mikesell said of the save.

Cory Dodson scored with 1:49 left to cut Foothill's lead to 7-6.

Kelli Boling had four goals, including two on extra, for the Knights. The left-handed sophomore scored the first goal of the game just 1:09 in by converting on the power play.  Foothill then added a well-placed perimeter strike by Jocelyn Brennan to take a 2-0 lead about 1:30 later.

"I think we were really ready for (the match)," Boling said.

Los Alamitos trailed, 3-2, at halftime by Foothill scored the first three goals of the third. Zwiner scored two of the goals on perimeter strikes.

"It's good to see that they finally played to their potential," Mikesell said.

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com