Azevedo Returns, and Wilson Beats Sailors

The last two times Newport Harbor played Long Beach Wilson, the Sailors came away with victories. But Saturday night in the championship final of the Southern California Invitational, it was a different Wilson.

With Tony Azevedo back in the lineup, Long Beach Wilson was once again the dominant team in Southern California water polo as the Bruins defeated Newport Harbor, 13-10, to earn their seventh consecutive title at Heritage Park.

Azevedo missed the first half of the Bruins’ season because he was playing with the U.S. national team. He started training with the Bruins Wednesday after returning from Australia, where he was competing in the FINA World Championships.

“Obviously Wilson is a different team with Tony back in the lineup,” said Newport Harbor Coach Brian Kreutzkamp. “I’m really proud of our guys. They played a great game in the first half. But if you try to shut down Tony, then it opens up Albert Garcia.”

Garcia, a senior, is Wilson’s second-best player. He scored four goals and had three steals in the game.

“What can I say about having Tony back with us?” Garcia said. “He’s a great player.”

In its semifinal game with Foothill, Long Beach Wilson dominated, 11-2. Azevedo, who played only the first half, had five goals.

Azevedo, who also had four goals in the final, made three key passes to Garcia to set up his goals.

“I live across the street from Tony,” said Garcia. “We grew up together. We work out a lot and we know how each other plays.”

Although the return of Azevedo was the talk of the pool deck Saturday, Newport Harbor was not about to be frazzled by his presence. And the Sailors did stay with Wilson through the first half.

Peter Belden scored seven of Newport Harbor’s 10 goals. However, four of those goals came on penalty shots.

Long Beach Wilson (12-2), which played an aggressive game, had eight ejections.

Tim Birdsong had an impressive game in goal for Newport Harbor (13-1) with 10 saves.

In the third-place game:

Foothill 7, San Clemente 6--Brian Alexander made the winning goal with 1 minute 32 seconds left. Foothill goalie Adam Katz, who had eight saves, made two key saves in the last minute of the game to preserve the win. Pat Logan had two goals to lead Foothill (11-3). Kevin Hook and Josh Hewko had two goals each for San Clemente (10-6).