PREP WATER POLO ROUNDUP : El Dorado Beats Los Alamitos in Sudden Death

In a water polo game billed by both coaches as the Empire League championship game, El Dorado edged Los Alamitos, 11-10, in sudden death, Wednesday at El Dorado High School.

Jason Gall scored the winning goal, his sixth of the game, 42 seconds into the sudden death period to put El Dorado (9-1, 1-0 in league) in command of the Empire League race, and Los Alamitos (8-5, 0-1) in search of some help.

“We just have to come back and beat Esperanza Wednesday,” Los Alamitos Coach Dennis Ploesser said, “and hope that someone else can beat El Dorado.”

But that doesn’t seem likely, since El Dorado was able to win even without Joe Benson, it’s No. 1 goalie.

Benson sat out the game with 40 stitches in his right hand, a wound he opened Saturday after putting his hand through a window in his house, El Dorado Coach Chris Ames said.

Los Alamitos kept the game close behind the outside shooting of Kyle Pagett, who scored four goals, and Peter Odorico, who scored three.

With the score tied, 8-8, after regulation, El Dorado took a 10-8 lead in the first minute of overtime after goals by Gall and Mikel Reta.

Los Alamitos rallied to tie the score when Randy Wright scored from the hole with 1:46 remaining and Pagett scored with 37 seconds left in the first overtime period, sending the game into sudden death.