El Toro bounces back to win Masters title

NEWPORT BEACH - El Toro's boys water polo team didn't claim complete redemption Saturday night, but the Chargers still had plenty to feel good about.

The Division I runner-up claimed the Southern Section Masters tournament with a 6-4 victory against Santa Barbara in the championship match at Newport Harbor.

Attacker Griffin White scored four goals, including three on the man advantage, and goalie Tommy O'Connell had 11 saves, including one on a penalty shot, to pace second-seeded El Toro.

O'Connell said the sting of losing to Foothill in the Division I final Nov. 22 motivated the Chargers (33-3) to capture the Masters, or as he called it, "the next-best thing."

"After losing CIF, the guys were pretty down," the senior said. "We decided to bounce back. … We came together and decided to win this (tournament)."

El Toro looked motivated from the start. White scored the first two goals of the match on man-advantage strikes from the right-hander's wing.

Ryan Johnson added a counterattack goal with 1:59 left in the first period to open a 3-0 lead.

Santa Barbara (26-9) later cut El Toro's lead to, 4-2, and early in the third had a penalty shot to make it a one-goal match. But O'Connell blocked Stanford-commit Ian Gamble's penalty attempt with 4:27 left.

The stop loomed larger as Santa Barbara's Brandon Cowan scored on a counterattack 25 seconds later that could have been a tying goal.

But White made it 5-3 with another man-advantage strike with 2:33 left in the third.

White drew an exclusion on Santa Barbara goalie Hunter Ploch and scored coming out of a timeout. The senior then scored the first goal of the fourth period.

El Toro finished 3 for 4 on the man advantage.

Santa Barbara, a semifinalist in Division I, went 0 for 1 and missed its only penalty attempt.

"That was the difference in the game," Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh said of the specialty teams.

El Toro's defense also was critical. After Cowan trimmed El Toro's lead to 6-4 with a spectacular perimeter strike with 1:53 left in the fourth, El Toro's defense held.

"We played a lot better than we did against Foothill and a lot better defense," White said.

El Toro claimed its first Masters title in its third appearance in a final. The Chargers also reached their fifth tournament title of the season and claimed their third title. They also won the South Coast and Villa Park tournaments.

El Toro coach Don Stoll said he would have liked another shot at Foothill on Saturday, but the top-seeded Knights fell to Santa Barbara, 9-5, in the semifinals.

In the third-place match:

Foothill 11, Mater Dei 7: Paul Pickell had four goals and Jay Lovero made 13 saves to lead the Knights (27-8).

Contact the writer: dalbano@ocregister.com