Esperanza Topples No. 1 Irvine, 3-2

Esperanza continued its hot streak and defeated Irvine, the top-ranked team in Orange County, 3-2, in the quarterfinals of the Southern California Championships girls’ water polo tournament Friday at Heritage Park in Irvine.

Jessica Conner scored the three goals for the Aztecs, ranked third in the county. All three goals came off assists from Katie Rousse and all three converted six-on-five opportunities.

Esperanza, which defeated sixth-ranked Marina in a key Sunset League game Wednesday, advanced to play Santa Margarita in today’s semifinals at 10 a.m. The final is at 3 p.m. at Heritage Park.

Conner scored twice in a 1 1/2-minute span in the fourth quarter to break a 1-1 tie for Esperanza (20-3). Although Nicole Lorrimer scored to pull Irvine (16-3) to within 3-2 with 1 minute 39 seconds remaining, Esperanza sealed the victory after Theresa Conner’s steal with 26 seconds remaining.

In another quarterfinal:

No. 9 Santa Margarita 6, No. 4 Foothill 4--Freshman Erika Figge had three goals and two assists for Santa Margarita (15-5), which played without standout Jamie Kroeze, who was sidelined because of a shoulder injury.

Foothill (15-6) pulled even at 3-3 after Jackie Pirro scored twice in a 21-second span in the third quarter.

But Santa Margarita answered with Becka Peterson’s second goal and Clare Peyrebrune scoring off an assist from Figge on a counterattack in the final minute of the third quarter to take a 5-3 lead into the fourth.

“When you’re missing a key player it can go one of two ways,” Santa Margarita Coach Scott Taylor said. “Either the team pulls together and it goes better or it can go down the tubes. It was good to see the kids step up.”