U.S. OLYMPIC FESTIVAL : UCI’s Maizel Saves Best for Last to Pace South

Mark Maizel of Villa Park and UC Irvine, who is considered the best goalkeeper in the water polo competition here and probably the best in the National Collegiate Athletic Assn., made 14 saves as the South defeated the East, 10-7, to win the U.S. Olympic Festival water polo gold medal Wednesday at Koury Natatorium.

Greg Wilson of Laguna Niguel and UCI also played for the South.

Jeff Oeding of Newport Beach and Stanford scored three goals for the silver-medal winning East.

In the bronze-medal game, Tom Hermstad of Seal Beach, captain of the West, scored two goals, including one that tied the score with 3:56 remaining, to help the West defeat the North in overtime, 12-7.

The West, which had played in the gold medal game of every Festival, scored five goals in the two three-minute overtime periods to keep from becoming the first West team in Festival history not to win a medal.

Julian Harvey of Newport Beach and UC Irvine also scored two goals for the West, and Mike Doting of Garden Grove, Mike Halphide of Newport Beach and Dan Smoot of Tustin, all UCI players, added one goal each for the West.

“I think this win saved face for us,” said Hermstad, 21. “We certainly did not want to finish fourth, especially with the reputation the West has in this Festival. Finishing fourth would have hurt.”

The East women’s volleyball team, led by Stanford teammates Lara Asper of Newport Beach and Amy Hayes of Anaheim, held a 5-0 lead in the fifth game of the gold-medal match, but allowed the South to come back for an 8-15, 15-12, 7-15, 15-4, 15-11 victory at Carmichael Auditorium.

Hayes, a 5-foot 10-inch outside hitter, had 19 kills, and Asper, a 5-11 setter, finished with 28 assists, 6 kills and 2 aces.

The South, led by the hitting of Lonise Norfleet of Glen Ellyn, Ill., and Jill Johnson of Downey, finished with a 3-1 record here. The silver-medalist East finished 2-2, with both losses to the South.

Tom Redington of Anaheim, the former Esperanza High star, hit a two-run double to aid a spectacular ninth-inning comeback by the West baseball team in the bronze-medal game at Boshamer Stadium in Chapel Hill.

The West trailed the East, 7-3, but scored seven runs in the top of the ninth to win, 10-7. Redington’s double was his third of the tournament.

Festival Notes Dave McMichael of Newport Beach, a player/coach for the West men’s field hockey team, has been named to the 16-member Pan American Games field hockey team and will serve as captain of the U.S. team. . . . Laura Fort of Westminster was a member of the bronze-medal winning West women’s volleyball team. . . . Tom Lewis of Garden Grove, the former Mater Dei star, scored a game-high 17 points as the West basketball team defeated the East for the bronze medal. LeRon Ellis, who this year led Mater Dei to the 5-A state championship, added eight. Bryant Walton, formerly of Saddleback, and Mark Georgeson, a 1987 Marina High graduate, each added two. . . . Susie McIntyre of Santa Ana, at 32 the oldest woman playing water polo in the Festival, scored two goals as the West defeated the North, 10-8. . . . Former Edison High soccer star Joy Biefeld, who plays for Cal, is on the West women’s soccer team, which clinched a spot in the gold-medal match against the South Friday with a 2-0 victory over the North.