Villa Park Can’t Survive OT This Time, Coronado Wins

Villa Park narrowly avoided elimination once in the Southern California Championships girls’ water polo tournament and the Spartans were looking for another overtime escape in the quarterfinals.

But Villa Park couldn’t wriggle out of trouble this time and Cassie Rawdin’s goal 1 minute 23 seconds into sudden-death overtime gave Coronado a 5-4 victory Friday at Corona del Mar High.

Coronado (19-5) advanced to the semifinals to play Long Beach Wilson, an 8-4 winner over Marina. The semifinal winners meet at 3:30 for the championship.

“We’re just here having fun,” Coronado Coach Randall Barnett said. “This is just a tune-up for us because the [San Diego Section] championships start next week.”

The Spartans (18-3) were top-seeded at the Corona del Mar pool, but they appeared a little weary after outlasting University, 8-7, in a triple-overtime, first-round game Thursday and then posting a 7-4, second-round victory over Edison.

But Villa Park Coach John Carcich wasn’t making excuses.

“We made some mistakes at key moments and that was the difference,” Carcich said.

The Spartans never led, but they didn’t fade away either. Although Coronado had numerous opportunities to break it open--eight of its 20 shots hit the goal posts or crossbar--Villa Park clawed its way back in spite of itself.

Sarah Gertler scored three goals to help Villa Park pull even, 3-3, and the Spartans had a chance to take their first lead when Kristyn Pulver was awarded a four-meter penalty shot.

But Pulver’s shot was stopped by Coronado goalie Kelly Hall with 4:11 remaining in the third quarter.

With a minute remaining in the fourth quarter and the score still tied at 3, Villa Park goalie Brandie Seligman’s errant pass led to a Coronado counter-attack and Christy Taylor scored her second goal of the game with 43 seconds left to give Coronado the lead.

Villa Park answered on its next possession when Morgan Meyer set Pulver at two meters and the freshman scored with 24 seconds remaining to force overtime.

“It was an exciting game,” Carcich said. “I’m proud of them. They didn’t quit.”

In other quarterfinal games:

Long Beach Wilson 8, Marina 4--Jenny Lamb had two goals for Marina (14-5). Long Beach Wilson (19-1), ranked second in the Southern Section, lost its only game against Los Alamitos, 7-5.

Los Alamitos 10, Newport Harbor 4--Shelli Linza scored four goals and Amy Valois added three for Los Alamitos (23-0), which will play Irvine in the semifinals at 10 a.m. today.

Irvine 6, Santa Barbara 3--Erin Lezak, Nicole Huszcz and Mandy Crawford each scored two goals for Irvine (21-2).