SOUTHERN SECTION DIVISION II WATER POLO ROUNDUP : Lost Chances Prove Costly for Marina

Coach Dave Pickford might have been expected to lament about a controversial penalty call Wednesday that helped end the season for his Marina water polo team.

Pickford, though, knew his Vikings had squandered so many scoring chances in their 11-10 loss to Simi Valley Royal that he had little room to complain about officiating.

After failing to score on three consecutive man-advantage situations, the Vikings (19-11) turned the ball over on a questionable offensive foul with 19 seconds remaining as Royal (27-1) held on to win the Southern Section Division II quarterfinal match at Golden West College.

“We had our opportunities,” Pickford said. “I think that was an ugly call. But I’m impressed our guys came back in the game. A lot of teams would have said, ‘Well, we had a nice season,’ and quit.”

Royal, led by Luke Frazier’s four goals, jumped out to a 9-5 halftime lead.

But in the third period, the Vikings quieted the noisy Royal fans with four unanswered goals.

Just one minute, 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, Matt Braun scored his team-high third goal to give Marina the lead. But 14 seconds later, Royal’s Jack Kocur scored to tie it, 10-10. Royal then scored the winning goal with 3:51 left when Frazier tipped in a centering pass from Greg Galloway.

Royal’s victory was sealed when the Vikings’ Jon Kenyon was called for an offensive foul, after the Vikings failed on their three man-advantage situations.

“It was a bad call to make. I’m the one that got hit,” said Kenyon. “We came back, but obviously, this is frustrating.”

In other Division II matches:

Esperanza 13, Lompoc 10--Senior Eric Poole made seven goals, including two with one minute remaining in the first half, which gave Esperanza a 7-5 lead at the half. The Aztecs, seeded No. 2, never trailed after that point. Goalkeeper Craig Thomas, a senior, had 14 saves for the Aztecs (25-3) Lompoc ends 22-2.

Riverside Poly 12, Fountain Valley 8--Robert Causee scored four goals for Fountain Valley, which ends 23-7.