SAN DIEGO SECTION PLAYOFFS : Water Polo : Coronado Needs Overtime to Win

Coronado High School’s Evan Galbo had tried all night to shake free from the University of San Diego High School defense in the San Diego Section water polo championship Saturday night at UC San Diego, and all night he had not been able to do so.

Luckily for him, the game went into overtime.

With 1:10 remaining in a three-minute extra period and the score still tied, Galbo finally got free long enough to get his first goal of the game, providing Coronado with a 6-5 victory.

“It hadn’t been one of my better games,” said Galbo, who was coming off a five-goal effort in Coronado’s semifinal victory Wednesday over Valhalla. “But I kept working and finally it paid off.”

Just as Galbo had been slowed by USDHS throughout the game, so had the high-scoring Coronado offense, which had not been held to fewer than 10 goals throughout the playoffs.

USDHS (22-5) swam evenly with Coronado (23-4) on transition plays and relied on the goalkeeping of Chad Colden when Coronado set up in the USDHS defensive zone. On offense, the Dons had a three-goal effort from Darrion Young and three times battled back from one-goal deficits to even the game, 5-5, after three quarters.

Both teams had chances to score during a scoreless fourth quarter, but Colden and Coronado goalie Drew Mitchell each made key saves to send the game into overtime.

Then, nearly two minutes into the overtime, Coronado’s Brian Kissel stole a pass in the Coronado zone and Galbo took off, swimming toward the USDHS goal. Kissel spotted him and threw a pass length of the pool and Galbo collected it just to the right of Colden.

“All I did was look behind me to make sure nobody was coming,” Galbo said. “When I saw I was free, I just knew I couldn’t make a mistake.”

Galbo fired right-handed and the ball skipped under Colden’s left arm into the far corner of the goal.

Coronado had taken a 2-0 lead in the first quarter on goals by Alex Fraley and Parker Beatty. After USDHS rallied to tie, 2-2, Fraley scored three more goals. But each time Fraley scored, USDHS came back to even the score.