Santa Barbara Rallies for Water Polo Title

Santa Barbara scored two goals in the final 23 seconds to defeat Ventura, 8-7, in the Southern Section Division IV water polo championship match Wednesday at UC Santa Barbara.

Nolan Flavell scored with 23 seconds left to tie the score, 7-7. Parker Borneman then deflected a Ventura pass, won control of the ball and swam 40 meters before launching his game-winning shot.

“Every day, the last thing in practice we work on is the down-two-goals-with-two-minutes scenario,” Borneman said. “If you don’t practice, you’ll choke.”

Borneman, Brian Snyder and Ryan Caswell each scored two goals for Santa Barbara. Goalie Chris Quijano made 14 saves.

Ventura (24-6), trailed, 6-5, at the end of three quarters. Derek Doler scored with 4:12 left to tie the score, 6-6. Ventura went ahead, 7-6, on a goal by Teague Savitch with 1:54 to play.

Nick Wagner and Adam Payan scored two goals for Ventura. David Miller had 14 saves.