El Toro Goes the Distance to Win in OT

El Toro, never considered the South Coast League favorite, used a long shot, appropriately enough, to topple fifth-ranked Capistrano Valley.

Sophomore Ke’ala Carter scored from just beyond mid-pool as time wound down in the first half of overtime, then El Toro, ranked ninth in the county, held on to win, 5-4, in a South Coast League girls’ water polo game Thursday at El Toro High.

Corrie Kenagy and Adrian Beaney each scored two goals for the Chargers, and a stingy, collapsing defense, anchored by goalie Amanda Deatherage’s six saves, helped hold Capistrano Valley’s high-scoring sisters, Amber and Aimee Stachowski, scoreless until the final two minutes of regulation.

Carter’s goal came with six seconds remaining in the first three-minute overtime half when she found the upper right corner of the net, just beyond the reach of Capistrano Valley goalie Meridith McColl.

“Yeah, I diagramed that play,” El Toro Coach Don Stoll said, laughing. “What are you talking to me for? Talk to Carter. Jeez, to win it with a three-quarter-pool shot . . . “

OK, so it wasn’t quite that far. But Carter knew her odds still weren’t good when she took the shot.

“I was completely lucky,” Carter said. “I just flung it and it went in. I saw the clock running down, and instead of just dumping the ball, I wanted it in.”

That single-minded determination didn’t waver for El Toro, except until the final two minutes of regulation.

Kenagy’s second goal with 2 minutes 46 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter gave El Toro (10-8, 3-0 in league) a 4-2 lead. Then the Stachowskis almost single-handedly forced overtime for the Cougars (10-6, 2-1).

Amber Stachowski stole a pass, raced the other way and scored from four meters with 2:01 remaining. Thirty-six seconds later, Aimee Stachowski took an outlet pass from McColl on the counterattack, spun past El Toro’s Stephenie Hand and scored from two meters to tie it at 4-4.

But facing El Toro’s constant double-teaming, the Stachowskis combined for only one other shot. Niki Gove and Xina Gleason scored first-quarter goals to give Capistrano Valley an early 2-0 lead, but the Cougars went scoreless for the next 23 1/2 minutes.

“For 3 3/4 quarters, we worked the game-plan to perfection,” Stoll said. “But Amber is so scary. I told our girls that whoever Amber was guarding, don’t even bother passing it to her.

“And when they scored those two goals I was thinking it would be a shame for us to lose it in the last two minutes.”

Instead, Carter’s shot put the Chargers two victories away from their first league championship.

In the Freeway League:

Buena Park 15, Fullerton 3--Alissa Walker scored four goals and Kelli Britton added three for Buena Park (9-9, 4-2), which led, 7-1, at the half.

In the Orange League:

Brea Olinda 18, Savanna 6--Jenni Nelson scored six goals and Andrea McKinley contributed four to lead Brea Olinda (12-11, 5-0), which led, 11-0, at the half.

Amber Schaefer scored three times for Savanna.

In a nonleague game:

El Modena 20, Long Beach Jordan 3--Lesha Bounds scored a school-record seven goals, all in the first quarter, for El Modena (13-8, 1-1).