Harvard-Westlake Presses and Pulls Out 9-7 Victory

A defensive change and a six-goal flurry over a three-minute, 58-second span of the third quarter carried Harvard-Westlake High to a 9-7 victory over Crescenta Valley in a Southern Section Division III girls’ water polo semifinal Friday at Valley College.

After junior driver Megan Winchell opened the second-half scoring with the third of her four goals to give Crescenta Valley (28-3) a 6-3 lead, Emily Ceasar began the Wolverines’ comeback by scoring with 4:55 left in the quarter.

Paloma Slezak out-sprinted the defense to score 26 seconds later.

In another 40 seconds, Harvard-Westlake tied the score for the first time since the first quarter on Courtney Quinn’s goal.

Winchell’s goal with 3:22 remaining in the quarter gave Crescenta Valley a 7-6 lead, which would last for only 42 seconds before Ceasar scored while the Falcons were short-handed.

Quinn’s goal with 1:18 left in the quarter put the Wolverines (21-6) ahead for good.

Jule Spataru scored an insurance goal 21 seconds later.

“Harvard started pressing and we started trying to protect the lead a little too much instead of attacking them back [and] that’s when the momentum shifted,” Coach Peter Kim of Crescenta Valley said.

“Once you lose that, it’s very hard to get it back.”

The Falcons’ comeback hopes fizzled early in the fourth quarter with two shots that went wide of the goal and two turnovers on their first four possessions.

Goalie Carolyn Kiefer of Harvard-Westlake made saves on shots by Winchell and Jamie Payne in the final 2:05.

Coach Rich Corso of Harvard-Westlake said his decision to press and employ multiple defenses in the second half “kind of spooked” the Falcons, who led, 5-3, at halftime on Winchell’s two goals and one each from Debra Snyder, Jessie Stiles and Laura Claessens.

“I thought we were struggling the first half,” Corso said. “They were working real hard, but they scored a couple of easy goals. I told the girls at the half, ‘We’re in good position. We’re right where we want to be. Now let’s turn on the heat.’ ”

Slezak scored two first-half goals and Lara Kruska one for Harvard-Westlake. The Wolverines advanced to Monday’s final at Belmont Plaza Olympic Pool against top-seeded Bell Gardens, a 23-4 winner over Chino. The Lancers defeated Harvard-Westlake in last year’s final.

“This is much bigger than last year because we had a lot of marquee players last year,” Corso said.

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TODAY’S DIVISION II SEMIFINAL

AGOURA (25-4) vs. VENTURA (17-7) at Oxnard High, noon