Girls’ water polo: This time, Eagles pass final with flying colors

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One team was trying to make up for a lost opportunity. The other was trying to finish where it started. Both were seeking their first title. And the result was a tense, hard-fought contest that went down to the wire.

Arroyo Grande, which lost to Long Beach Cabrillo in last year’s final, rid itself of that memory with Saturday’s 8-7 victory over Harvard-Westlake in the Division IV championship game at William Woolett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine. The second-seeded Eagles also left the opposition with the same ‘what might have been’ feeling that they felt last winter.

Surprisingly, the top-seeded Wolverines never led after the first seven minutes, although they pulled even, at 7-7, late in the fourth quarter.

But Rebecca Smith scored the deciding goal during a man-advantage situation with less than two minutes left and Harvard-Westlake was unable to put the equalizer past Eagles’ goalie Brianna Lippert.

It was a disappointing end to an otherwise stellar season for the Wolverines, who won 23 games and were ranked No. 1 in the division from start to finish. Well, almost.

-- Steve Galluzzo