PREP ROUNDUP : El Toro Again Stakes Claim to No. 1 Spot in Water Polo

The top-ranked water polo teams in the Southern Section met for the third time this season Thursday, and nerves got the best of the best.

El Toro, showing just a bit more poise, hung on to defeat Capistrano Valley, 4-3, at Saddleback College and moved alone into first in the South Coast League.

Capistrano Valley (19-2, 2-1 in league) had defeated El Toro, 13-12, for the championship of the North Orange County Tournament Saturday and replaced the Chargers as the No. 1-ranked team in the county and Southern Section Division I. But No. 2 El Toro (20-1, 3-0) will likely reclaim its ranking next week.

The higher stakes of this rubber match--El Toro won, 11-6, in the final of the Villa Park Tournament early this month--apparently weighed heavily on the players. Neither team scored in the fourth quarter.

“Both teams are so tentative right now,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll said. “They are afraid to do anything. They’re afraid to make a mistake.”

Said Capistrano Valley Coach Don Cholodenko: “We just had some guys who were very timid today and didn’t want to shoot.”

One exception was two-meter man Jeremy Braxton-Brown, who scored all three of the Cougars’ goals in the first half. El Toro’s defense, which held Capistrano Valley scoreless in the second half, was sagging to double- and sometimes triple-team Braxton-Brown, but the Cougars left unguarded couldn’t take advantage.

El Toro trailed, 3-2, at the half, but Daniel Mathot, who had three goals, scored twice in the third quarter to give the Chargers the lead for good. El Toro goalkeeper Jason Murray made nine saves, including a block of Jake Yokota’s shot with seven seconds remaining.

“I told my kids yesterday that if we held them under five goals, we would win,” Cholodenko said. “I guess I was wrong.”