A Cinderella story’s end

SAN LUIS OBISPO — They traveled more than 200 miles to make history.

Unfortunately for the members of the Glendale High girls’ water polo squad, their season fell two steps short of winning a championship.

Glendale saw its incredible postseason journey end Friday night with a 12-6 loss to second-seeded Arroyo Grande in a CIF Southern Section Division IV semifinal match at Cuesta College.

The Nitros (16-14) made plenty of headlines throughout the past 10 days en route to becoming the school’s first girls’ program to advance to the CIF semifinals. However, Glendale ran into Arroyo Grande at a point in the postseason where experience is magnified.

“The last two weeks have been great, but I would love to have two more days in the season,” Glendale Coach Bob Zirovich said. “We just didn’t have the playoff experience that’s needed in a game like this.

“It’s great to see our program moving forward, and hopefully it’s the beginning of a tradition.”

Arroyo Grande (22-10) broke open a close match, as it scored three goals in a 41-second span near the midway point of the third quarter to take a 9-4 lead. Glendale, which finished third in the Pacific League, saw its bid to make a dramatic comeback fall short.

Glendale stayed close to Arroyo Grande, which handed the Nitros an 8-7 loss in an opening-round match of the El Niño Cup on Dec. 8 in Irvine, throughout the first half.

Once the playoffs began Feb. 13, it wasn’t like that too many prognosticators forecasted a rematch on a chilly evening in late-February for the right to move on to the championship match.

“We came a long way since the first time we played them,” said senior defender Sara Wolff, who finished with two goals. “We were really excited to make it this far, but they were just a faster and more physical team than the first time.

“It’s great for us to make history. It’s awesome because we proved everybody wrong in our league that we could go far.”

Zirovich said the Nitros, who had postseason victories against Louisville, La Salle and Rio Mesa, couldn’t crack Arroyo Grande’s stingy defense.

He also lauded the effort turned in by Arroyo Grande goalkeeper Noelle Wondergen, who made 10 saves.

“[Wondergen] played a great game,” said Zirovich, who also got two goals from Lily Broussard and one each from Shaggy Abolian and Vanuhi Ovasapyan. “Her team did a great job pressing, and that made her job easier.

“We made mistakes that we haven’t made. We play extremely well when the game comes to us, but we just forced the ball.”

Arroyo Grande, which won the PAC-7 League title and will appear in the program’s first championship match, got a match-high six goals from senior driver Emily Pearce. Pearce scored the first two goals of the match in the first quarter, and then proceeded to score three unanswered goals that spanned from late in the second quarter and into the third to burst Glendale’s title hopes.

Arroyo Grande Coach Steven Allen said the Eagles needed to first be sharp defensively and then take advantage of their scoring chances.

“We knew from the first time we played them that we had to counter-attack,” Allen said. “Realistically, we are a team that counters.

“We saw film on Glendale from the Rio Mesa game, and we knew that Lily and Vanuhi are really good.”

Broussard, a senior driver, did everything possible to keep the Nitros’ season alive. But Arroyo Grande stopped Glendale at the pass.

“We knew it would be a hard game,” said Broussard, who finished with a school-record 82 goals this season.

Arroyo Grande will face top-seeded Lompoc Cabrillo in the title match at 6 p.m. Monday at Belmont Plaza pool in Long Beach.