ROUNDUP : Sea Kings Fall to Wilson in Water Polo
Long Beach Wilson took a 5-1 lead in the first half and held on to beat Corona del Mar, 11-6, in the final of the Southern California Invitational water polo tournament Saturday at Long Beach State.
Wilson converted on six of its 10 man-advantage opportunities, including five of the first seven.
The Bruins (14-2) led, 3-0, at the end of the first quarter. Pat Cochran scored two minutes into the game and Adam Wright scored two goals about a minute apart.
Micah Miller scored on an assist from Wright for a 4-0 advantage before the Sea Kings (14-4) scored. Kevin Tucker beat Wilson goalie Nick Hill with five minutes 30 seconds left in the second quarter to cut the deficit to 4-1.
Matt Armato and Peter Joseph added two more goals for Wilson late in the quarter with a man-advantage before Tucker scored his second goal to pull the Sea Kings as close as 6-2 at halftime.
Both teams played swarming defense throughout most of the third quarter. But with two minutes left, Armato scored his second goal, followed by two more by Wright within the last minute and a half to give Wilson a 9-2 lead.
Corona del Mar battled back in the fourth quarter, scoring four of the first five goals. James Palda scored on an assist from Adam McFarland less than one minute into the quarter and Neil Hueston scored on an assist from Tucker with about five minutes left to pull the Sea Kings to within 9-4.
After Wilson’s Rick Westberg scored with four minutes left, McFarland scored, followed by Hueston’s penalty shot goal, which cut the lead to 10-6 with 2:45 left.
“(Wilson) played well,” Corona del Mar Coach John Vargas said. “We just didn’t play as well as they did.”
In the third-place game:
San Clemente 15, San Diego Coronado 8--Andy Bailey had five goals and Jim Farley had three to lead San Clemente.
In other games:
Foothill 15, Servite 14 (sudden death)--Brain Brown scored a goal in sudden death to lead Foothill to a fifth-place finish. Brown had seven goals.
Corona del Mar 7, San Clemente 5--Neil Hueston and Mike Bise each scored in the fourth quarter for Corona del Mar (11-3) in a semifinal. Hueston had two goals in the game.
In the championship pool of the North Orange County tournament:
Costa Mesa 7, Newport Harbor 6--Ryan Dandy scored two goals as Costa Mesa, 2-0 in the championship pool, won the tournament.
Newport Harbor 9, Tustin 6--Mike Peetz scored three goals and Scott Stickler and Gabe Wyatt added two each for Newport Harbor (8-8), which finished second.
In other games at the North Orange County tournament:
Brea-Olinda 9, Laguna Beach 5--Tad Murphy scored four goals for Brea-Olinda (17-3), ranked sixth. Mike Marriner had 12 saves for Laguna Beach (13-7).
Laguna Beach 6, Whittier La Serna 5--Jason Geiger scored the winning goal late in the fourth quarter for Laguna Beach (13-5).
In nonleague volleyball:
Calvary Chapel 3, Marina 0--Courtney Owens had 14 kills to lead Calvary Chapel (6-1), 15-3, 15-5, 15-4.