Boys’ water polo: Oilers are runner-up in South Coast Tournament

Any questions about how the Harvard-Westlake boys’ water polo team would perform without standout senior center Felix Brozyna-Vilim seemed to be answered Saturday at Newport Harbor High.

Yes, the Wolverines were missing the UCLA-bound center with a knee injury in the South Coast Tournament. But another player headed to a rival school for college stepped up for top-seeded Harvard-Westlake.

Harvard-Westlake junior Sam Krutonog, a recent USC commit, made a season-high 19 saves in the championship game as the Wolverines beat No. 3-seeded Huntington Beach, 9-5.

Harvard-Westlake (13-0) won its second major tournament in two weeks after capturing the Elite Eight tournament it hosted last weekend. Huntington Beach, which beat Corona del Mar, 12-8, in the semifinals earlier Saturday, is now 9-3 overall.

The Back Bay teams also finished top six in the South Coast Tournament. Corona del Mar placed fourth for the second straight year after losing to Orange Lutheran, 11-10, in the third-place game. Newport Harbor lost to Mater Dei, 16-8, in the fifth-place game to finish sixth in the 32-team tournament.

As for Krutonog, the Oilers just had trouble getting shots past him.

“He’s uber-talented, there’s no question about that,” Harvard-Westlake Coach Brian Flacks said of Krutonog, who recently competed with the USA Water Polo Youth National Team at the FINA Youth World Championships in Montenegro. “The last two games, I think he played really well. We needed someone to step up, and I think he did a nice job in the cage in both the semifinals and the finals, keeping us in the game and making big plays for us.”

Huntington Beach seemed to be poised to beat Harvard-Westlake for the first time, after also losing to the Wolverines in the semifinals of the Elite Eight tournament. On Saturday, they grabbed a 5-4 lead late in the third quarter when senior Matthew Robert, who had lost his cap, nevertheless scored from the left wing.

But Krutonog shut out the Oilers for the final nine-plus minutes of the game. Harvard-Westlake’s Alec Mendelsohn immediately tied the game with an outside shot, then fed Alex Bucur for a counterattack goal. Harvard’s Keller Maloney then scored on a lob late in the quarter to give the Wolverines a 7-5 lead, and they didn’t look back.

Mendelsohn and Luke Henriksson both scored twice for Harvard-Westlake. Jacob Cavano, a junior, led Huntington Beach with three goals, and senior Quinten Osborne and Robert added goals. Senior goalie Patrick Saunders made six saves, including one on a penalty shot.

“We just ran out of steam toward the end,” Oilers Coach Sasa Branisavljevic said. “We let the guard down a little bit and made defensive mistakes. Krutonog just did a fantastic job. He pulled the curtain down and we couldn’t score on him ... We weren’t really happy with the intensity [Friday], so the boys were kept in the entire time against CdM, which is good. With more rest, they would be more energized for this [championship] game, but the same goes for Harvard too.”

Senior captain Ethan Wojciechowski led the effort against CdM, with five goals and three assists. Curtis Jarvis added three goals for Huntington Beach.

Branisavljevic said he believes his team is making progress. Plus, he said transfers Ryan Braun and Garrett Zaan will each become eligible in the next 10 days.

“We’re definitely progressing,” he said. “We’ve just got to get the shots in, and I think this [championship] game could go either way.”

*

CORONA DEL MAR

It was a tough loss in the tournament third-place game for the Sea Kings, who never trailed until Orange Lutheran’s Hannes Daube scored the eventual game-winner with 1:05 left to play. Senior center Tamir Avital led the offensive effort with four goals, while Will Ueberroth scored two and Will Klein, Henry Wilde, Will Rodosky and Mitchell Cooper added single goals.

Senior goalie Matt Moran, who provided standout play all tournament, made 15 saves for CdM (4-3) against Orange Lutheran.

“We fought, we worked together, we were communicating,” Moran said. “We did a good job on offense and defense, it’s just that we got a little tired. But it is what it is. It’s all [preparation] for [the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs in] November. This is just a little blip.”

Cooper, a quickly emerging junior who scored the game-winning goal in Friday’s quarterfinal upset over No. 2-seeded defending champion Mater Dei, led CdM in the semifinal loss to Huntington Beach with three goals. Ueberroth had two scores, and Moran made 10 saves.

Huntington Beach led by as much as 12-5 in the fourth quarter before CdM scored the last three goals of the game.

“We still have a lot of work to do,” CdM Coach Barry O’Dea said. “The kids battled [against Mater Dei], and we were getting what we expected [Friday] night. We feel like we’re pretty good ... I don’t know if it was an emotional letdown [in the semifinals Saturday], because [Friday] night was really steady all across the board. Today, we finally started playing in the fourth quarter. It’s almost like, hey we’re playing before noon, we’re not awake yet.”

CdM opens league at home against Woodbridge on Thursday before playing host to Newport Harbor in the annual Battle of the Bay match on Saturday night at 7.

*

NEWPORT HARBOR

Senior co-captain Cole Brosnan led the Sailors with four goals in the fifth-place game loss to Mater Dei. Freshman Makoto Kenney added two goals, while Ryan Brosnan and Jason Grew scored one each. Junior goalie Max Sandberg led the defensive effort with six saves and six steals, and Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt added three steals.

Junior center Jackson Westerman drew five exclusions for the Sailors, but they struggled on the power play, converting one of seven opportunities. Mater Dei converted seven of its nine extra-man chances.

“It was a good tournament for us,” Newport Coach Ross Sinclair said. “I think we matured as a team. The boys believe in themselves a little bit more. We talked about a couple of principles that we wanted to focus on, that we were able to show in this tournament, one being just playing a little bit more physical and pressing a little bit harder. Starting in that Dana Hills game [a 12-4 win in the second round Thursday], it kind of showed.”

Newport Harbor edged Agoura, 11-10, in a fifth-place semifinal earlier Saturday. Both Brosnan brothers scored three goals, and Turnbow-Lindenstadt had two.

The next game for the Sailors (7-3) is the Battle of the Bay at CdM on Saturday.

*

LAGUNA BEACH

The Breakers finished in 15th place in the tournament after beating Long Beach Wilson, 11-9, on Saturday at Corona del Mar High. Sebastian Jacobs led Laguna Beach (6-6) with five goals and Gordon Pike made 13 saves.

Earlier Saturday, Laguna dropped a 10-9 decision to the Bishop’s School, despite four goals from Jacobs. Larsen McCarroll and Peter Weiland scored two each.

Laguna Beach plays host to Los Alamitos on Tuesday.