San Clemente balance too much for Capo Valley

San Clemente's blend of youthful talent and veteran leadership produced another victory in the pool Tuesday.

Seniors Derek Cousineau and Robby Stiefel and sophomore Chase Hamming each scored three goals and sophomore goalie Adam Sandor made nine saves to lead the Tritons' boys water polo team to a 13-8 victory against host Capistrano Valley in a South Coast League match.

The Tritons (9-4, 1-1) started three sophomores and junior and relied on another sophomore and a freshman as their top bench players.

San Clemente extended its winning streak to five matches. The Tritons lost their opener at the 32-team South Coast Tournament last week to No. 7 Northwood, 11-9, but responded with four consecutive victories to claim 17th place.

"We're progressing," San Clemente coach Marc Parker said. "We're young ... (but) we have really good leadership with Stiefel and Cousineau."

Cousineau played a key role on defense against Capistrano Valley (8-7, 0-1), which the Tritons beat for the third time. He spent much of the match guarding high-scoring Jon Beck, Parker said.

Beck finished with one goal, three below his average.

San Clemente is focusing on defense. Parker believes the Tritons have a scoring punch but improve their chances with strong defense.

San Clemente has one match left against No. 8 El Toro and two with No. 5 Dana Hills in league. Capistrano Valley's Blake Hewitt and Austin Sechrest each scored twice while Alex Furlong added 12 saves.

In nonleague matches:

Long Beach Wilson 16, No. 3 Los Alamitos 13: Kenneth Keller, Connor Lees and Max Merrill scored three goals apiece for the Griffins (6-2) at Belmont Plaza in Long Beach.

La Quinta 18, Westminster 3: John Pham scored 10 goals to lead the Aztecs (4-2) at Ocean View.

In the Pacific Coast League:

No. 4 Corona del Mar 18, No. 10 University 6: Danny Marshall and Colby Watson each scored four goals to pace the host Sea Kings (5-3, 1-0).

In the Sea View League:

Tesoro 10, Trabuco Hills 9: Taylor Peterson and Jack Proctor each scored three goals and Dylan Chavez collected eight steals to help the host Titans (8-6, 1-0) hold off the Mustangs.

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com