Servite's teamwork pays off against Villa Park

LAKE FOREST Servite's boys water polo team has been working most of the season on playing as a true team. On Saturday, the Friars received their biggest payoff yet.

Servite used a balanced offense and a united defense to stun defending Division II champion Villa Park and star Josh Samuels, 9-8, in a quarterfinal match at El Toro.

Sophomore Derek Salvino scored his only goal with 23 seconds left on a shot from 7 meters to give the Friars a 9-8 lead. Second-seeded Villa Park called a timeout and ran a play for Samuels, but the senior's attempt from about 6 meters was blocked in the field.

The Friars (19-13) ran out the final 10 seconds to seal their first victory against the Spartans (22-8) in three tries. Servite, the third seed from the Trinity League, plays rival JSerra in the semifinals Wednesday.

"It's a big win for us," Servite coach Mustafa Hassan said. "We made the proper adjustments and we knew we couldn't let Samuels beat us."

The first adjustment resulted from the area fires. The match was scheduled for the Joint Forces Training Base in Los Alamitos but because of poor air quality, was moved south.

Samuels scored a season-high eight goals in a victory at Servite on Nov. 2, and scored the first two goals Saturday. But Servite's defense shut out Samuels in the fourth.

Servite marked Samuels with Cruz Smithson, but also tried to double team without fouling.

Villa Park led 7-6 going in the fourth but JD Marcin tied the score 26 seconds into the period with a strike off a foul outside 5 meters. The senior then drew an exclusion that led to a man-advantage goal by Nate Little, who gave the Friars an 8-7 lead.

The Spartans tied the score again on a goal by Kyle Shopshire with 1:59 left but Salvino responded by putting away a cross pass from Spencer Van Horne.

Marcin led five Servite scorers with three goals. The Friars had the kind of the offensive balance needed to combat the extra attention teams often pay to Smithson at center.

"As a team, we played a great game," Smithson said.

Samuels finished with four goals and said, "We played good but didn't play CIF, do-or-die, polo."

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com