Irvine Rolls Past Villa Park

Although Irvine finished the regular season as the third-ranked team in Orange County, the Vaqueros looked like a championship favorite after a 7-2 thrashing of Villa Park in the quarterfinals of the Southern Section Division I girls’ water polo playoffs Tuesday at Brea Olinda.

Nicole Lorrimer and Lindsay Stephens each scored two goals to lead a balanced offense and goalie Kelly Graff had 12 saves to anchor a stingy defense for Irvine (24-3), which advanced to play El Toro in Friday’s semifinals.

Stephens and Kelly Anderson scored goals in the first 1 1/2 minutes for Irvine then Mary Beth Cox’s goal converted a six-on-five late in the first quarter to extend the lead to 3-1.

And second-quarter goals by Sarah Hamilton and Lorrimer provided more than enough cushion for Graff and Irvine’s defense, which held Villa Park scoreless for a 20-minute span.

“We stuck to our game plan on defense,” Irvine Coach Scott Hinman said, “we were patient on offense and we were very methodical. I loved it. I’m stoked that we can keep a team like that to two goals.”

Villa Park (20-8) was ranked seventh in the final Orange County Coaches poll and took Century League champion Foothill to overtime before losing in the regular-season finale.

But the Spartans never got in sync Tuesday and managed only two goals from UCLA-bound senior Kristyn Pulver.

Pulver scored her first goal with 3 minutes 14 seconds remaining in the first quarter to pull the Spartans to within 2-1, but she didn’t score again until 4:15 remained in the fourth quarter.

“They took away our two-meter game,” Villa Park Coach John Carcich said. “But we have good outside shooters and we got good shots. But when you hit the posts. . . .

“I don’t know how many times we had shots bar out today. Sometimes that happens. Unfortunately for us, it happened in a CIF playoff game.”

Six Villa Park shots hit goal posts or the crossbar, and Graff’s presence made the Spartans’ goal look that much smaller.

With one minute remaining, Pulver worked free on a two-on-one counterattack and drove in alone on Graff. But the Irvine goalie stopped Pulver’s first shot, then Pulver grabbed the rebound and fired another point-blank shot only to have Graff reject it again.

“[Graff] makes that team special,” Carcich said.