Foothill claims another Sea View title
Foothill's sixth-ranked girls water polo team fired plenty of shots off the goalie cage in the second half of Wednesday night's game.
The Knights also had some of their better attempts stopped by El Toro freshman goalie Emily Browning.
But Foothill's shooters eventually found their mark, and the Knights' faithful were able exhale and celebrate another Sea View League title after a 7-4 victory at Beckman.
Sophomore Jessie Porter snapped a 12 1/2-minute scoring drought by both teams by skipping in the go-ahead goal with 2:55 left in the fourth period. Porter snapped a 4-4 tie by skipping a shot from about 6 meters under Browning's arm and in off the bottom of the crossbar.
And just like that, Foothill's shooters started scoring. Freshman Nicole Stansfield scored on another perimeter strike a minute later, and center McKenna Mitchell capitalized on rare single-coverage by tossing in a backhanded shot from center with 1:13 left.
"Hitting the post is part of the game," Porter said. "Yeah, you get discouraged but you've just got to bounce back on your feet and I think we did very well."
The loudest cheer of the night might have been by the Foothill faithful after Porter's goal.
"It (was) relief," Foothill coach Dave Mikesell said. "It was like that dam kept building up and finally. When it broke, it broke."
The constant for Foothill (14-10, 5-0) in the second half was its defense. With the score tied, 4-4, at halftime, the Knights' press locked up the Chargers. El Toro struggled to get high-percentage scoring chances, especially in the first five minutes of the second half.
"I was happy with the defense," Mikesell said. "I thought El Toro played really well."
The Chargers (16-8, 3-2), who finished third in the Sea View, had a power play in the final minute of the third, but freshman goalie Kelsey Roland blocked the perimeter attempt.
Roland made another big save in the fourth to preserve the 4-4 tie. El Toro's Justine Morgan turned her defender at 2 meters and fired a hard shot but Roland made block with about 3:40 left. About a minute later, Porter scored.
Browning helped keep El Toro close with 11 saves.
The Chargers played a heavy drop on Mitchell at 2 meters.
"We don't want (Mitchell) to beat us," El Toro coach Matt Tilton said. "I thought we played pretty well."
Mitchell drew two of the Knights' power-play chances. Foothill went 2 for 4 with the extra attacker. El Toro finished 0 for 1 on the power play. UC Irvine-bound senior Olivia Cummins had two goals and three steals to help lead Foothill's defense. Roland played the second half and finished with five saves.
In the South Coast Tournament:
Mission Viejo 8, Capistrano Valley 6: Daniele Lopez scored four goals and Tala Majaj had 12 saves to lead the visiting Diablos (15-11) in a first round match.
Tesoro 12, Aliso Niguel 8: Tiffany Kell scored four goals to pace the Titans (13-10) at Capistrano Valley in a first round match.
In the Sunset League:
No. 1 Los Alamitos 8, No. 9 Fountain Valley 0: Savanna Smith had seven saves as the Griffins wrapped up second play at Newport Harbor.
No. 3 Newport Harbor 16, Esperanza 1: Kristin Burger made nine saves as the host Sailors clinched the outright league title.
