San Clemente Holds Off Santa Ana Valley, 15-9

Santa Ana Valley Coach Victor Perez felt if his team could play its game, it might have a chance against San Clemente in the first round of the Southern Section Division I boys’ water polo playoffs.

But San Clemente had its own plan. It mainly involved defense, and the Tritons used it to defeat Santa Ana Valley, 15-9, Thursday to advance to the second round.

“We didn’t do anything different than we have been doing the entire season,” San Clemente Coach Marc Parker said. “Execute, concentrate on our defense and effective counters.”

The Tritons did exactly that, allowing only 12 shots by Santa Ana Valley, making 14 steals and shutting down the visiting Falcons’ top scorer, Fernando Garcia.

Pat McCann led the Tritons in steals, with seven. He was also impressive on offense, scoring four goals.

Junior Josh Hewko took advantage of San Clemente’s counter, scoring four of his game-high seven goals on the counter play. Andy Janis had two goals for the Tritons.

“We didn’t do our job,” Perez said. “Our big guys were shut down. They played great and the counter killed us.”

Carlos Rubio had three goals and Carlos Mendez and Ulises Suarez had two each for the Falcons, who ended the season at 22-7.

San Clemente (19-7), which finished second to El Toro in the South Coast League, plays North Hollywood Harvard Westlake Tuesday.