El Toro Tops Villa Park in Quarterfinals

A late third-quarter goal sparked El Toro past Villa Park, 12-6, in a quarterfinal game of the Southern Section Division I boys’ water polo playoffs.

Until senior Andy Terpstra stole the ball and scored for El Toro, visiting Villa Park (21-7) trailed only 6-3 and looked as though it might have a chance to get back into the game.

Terpstra’s goal seemed to ignite El Toro, however. The Chargers tightened their defense and the offense scored two more goals in the third and three in the fourth.

South Coast League champion El Toro advanced to the semifinal round and will face Newport Harbor on Saturday.

Villa Park and El Toro played four times this season and the Chargers won all four games.

El Toro established itself early and shut down Villa Park in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead. Rich Schwanbeck scored all three goals with assists by Brad Burnett and Trevor McMunn.

Ross Pulver scored the Spartans’ first goal with 5:47 left in the second quarter. El Toro answered with a goal by Burnett 12 seconds later. Sam Joffe brought the Spartans within two with a goal at 4:54. Brett McCleave scored his first of two goals for El Toro at 1:59. Pulver scored the second of his game-high four 22 seconds later. Jimmy Reidler closed the second quarter with a goal to give El Toro a 6-3 lead.

‘At least we’re doing better than last time,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll said.

Last year, the Chargers lost in the quarterfinals to North Hollywood Harvard Westlake.

Tim Craycraft and McMunn scored once for El Toro, and teammate Matt Fortney had two goals. Ali Khalessi had eight saves for El Toro (25-4).