ROUNDUP : Mathot Leads El Toro Past Corona del Mar in Water Polo

Daniel Mathot scored three goals to help El Toro defeat Corona del Mar, 8-6, and win its first South Coast water polo tournament championship Saturday at Newport Harbor High.

El Toro, which defeated Corona del Mar, 12-4, Tuesday, adjusted its second-half defense after finishing the first half with a 5-4 lead.

“In the second half, we switched to a crash-style defense that didn’t allow Corona del Mar’s hole man to take the ball in on a sweep,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll said.

Because of the change, El Toro held Corona del Mar scoreless until the final 5 minutes 4 seconds of the match. The Sea Kings’ Brad Harrington got El Toro goalie Jason Murray to leave the net, which allowed him an open shot.

In the third quarter, Mathot scored twice, one with 46 minutes remaining and the other on a free throw with 19 seconds left to give El Toro an 8-4 lead.

Said Corona del Mar Coach John Vargas: “We had some positives, but we made a lot of mistakes and some glaring errors on defense.

“Our one-on-one coverage was poor and our passing wasn’t crisp. We had chances to score, but we made fundamental mistakes.”

El Toro (7-0), ranked No. 1 in Orange County, advanced to the championship game by defeating Marina (9-2) in the semifinals, 10-5. Mathot and Daniel Julson each scored three goals for the Chargers.

Sixth-ranked Corona del Mar (5-3) reached the championship by defeating Foothill, 6-5.

Brian Cordori led the Sea Kings with three goals. Brent Palluck scored three goals for Foothill.

In the third-place game:

Marina 8, Foothill 7--Tim DeVries scored four goals, his fourth coming in the final 53 seconds of the fourth quarter, to lead the No. 8 Vikings (9-2) over the No. 5 Knights (4-4). David Hay led Foothill with three goals.