This Time, Foothill Has the Last Laugh

It was a familiar story. Grace Reynolds and the rest of the Santa Ana Foothill girls’ water polo team just tweaked the ending a bit.

Reynolds scored four goals and the fourth-seeded Knights used a strong defensive effort to upend defending champion Newport Harbor, 8-4, in front of about 1,200 Tuesday in the Southern Section Division I championship match at Long Beach Belmont Plaza.

It was a rematch of last year’s final, which Newport Harbor won, 10-8.

“We played to win,” Reynolds said. “That’s what we came to do, and we did it.”

The victory, also forged with two goals by Chantelly Satchell and single goals by Jessica Kutcher and Noel Umphrey to go along with defense by Emily Klug and Kelsey Holshouser, gave Foothill (28-3) a 16-game winning streak.

The championship is Foothill’s fifth in six consecutive trips to the final.

The victory is the Knights’ third in five games against Newport Harbor this season. They did it this time with a defense that limited the second-seeded Sailors (27-4) to two goals in nine six-on-five opportunities.

Upland 12, Redlands 9 -- Jenna Schuster scored four goals to lead the fourth-seeded Highlanders to their third consecutive Division V title with a hard-fought victory over third-seeded Redlands at Belmont Plaza.

Schuster, a senior driver who finished the season with a team-leading 129 goals, scored twice in the first quarter to bring the Highlanders (24-7) back from a 2-0 deficit. Her third goal tied the score for the second time, 6-6, with 1:13 to play in the first half, and her final score extended Upland’s lead to 11-9.

Janee Walsh had scored inside with 6:03 to go to bring the Terriers to within 10-9.

The Highlanders, who eliminated top-seeded Arlington, 10-9, in the semifinals Friday, avenged a 6-5 nonleague loss to Redlands (23-7).

Upland also got two goals from Teressa Libutti.

Brooke Vessey scored three goals, and older sister Jamie Vessey and Walsh each scored twice for Redlands.

Downey 10, Corona Centennial 5 -- Seniors Sofia Patronas and Kristin Swart accounted for all of the scoring for the top-seeded Vikings, who won their first Southern Section title in the Division VI final at Belmont Plaza.

Patronas, the Vikings’ two-meter offensive standout, scored four of her game-high six goals in the first half as Downey (24-7-1) took a 6-3 lead at intermission.

She also helped seal Centennial’s fate with two quick and authoritative goals in the last 2:12 of the game after Downey had gone scoreless in the third quarter.

Centennial (24-5), making its first appearance in a championship game, got two goals from Kim Valverde, but otherwise the second-seeded Huskies were stopped by Downey goalkeeper Constance Daniels.

Daniels, a senior, recorded nine saves, often on hard shots from outside by Centennial’s Cassy Moore, Collette Brown and Sandy Saghbini. All three scored once.