La Cañada High girls’ water polo rallies past South Pasadena

LA CAÑADA — In a back-and-forth contest between two league rivals entering the waning moments of regulation time, it figured Miranda Mora would be called upon to make a big contribution.

The La Cañada High girls’ water polo player made sure to capitalize on any opportunity given to her.

Mora finished with five goals, including the winning tally with 1:13 remaining in the fourth quarter while drawing double coverage, to propel La Cañada to a 9-8 Rio Hondo League win against visiting South Pasadena on Thursday.

Mora pumped her fist in celebration following the match-winning goal before the Spartans fended off a pair of possessions by the Tigers.

“It’s just a huge win because we wanted to get back on track after we lost our league opener against Monrovia on Tuesday,” Mora said. “You have to have tunnel vision in these kind of games and know where you are when you have possession of the ball.

“I saw that two of their players had dropped down on me and I was able to push a shot through. We’ve had some exciting games, but this was one of the best ones.”

La Cañada improved to 12-7, 1-1 in league. South Pasadena fell to 4-6, 0-2.

La Cañada couldn’t protect a 3-0 first-quarter lead. South Pasadena rallied to take a 8-6 late in the third quarter before La Cañada began to chip away.

Mora closed out the third-quarter scoring with a man-advantage goal with 34 seconds remaining. In the fourth quarter, Heather Connolly tied it at 8 with 5:31 left before Mora delivered the match-winning goal. Jessica Chan of South Pasadena launched a shot that struck the crossbar with 28 seconds to go before the Spartans swam out the clock.

La Cañada Coach David Brown said he was eager to see how the Spartans would respond Thursday following a 12-10 defeat against Monrovia.

“We had a lot of good things happen,” Brown said. “This was a huge character game in terms of going up against South Pasadena and looking to see how we could come back from a tough defeat.

“We had a good practice Wednesday and cleaned up some things. The fourth quarter was all about Miranda. She’s our leader and she showed why on the winning goal.”

The Spartans got two goals from Connolly and one apiece from Paige Rivett and Camila Grases.

South Pasadena, which held a 7-5 halftime advantage, received a team-best four goals from Hayden Carlson. Carlson scored all of her goals in the second quarter, including three in a 57-second span.