Pasadena Poly water polo beats familiar foe for familiar berth

WALNUT - Pasadena Poly boys’ water polo Coach Ryan Katsuyama delivered a message to his squad prior to the start of Wednesday afternoon’s CIF Southern Section Division V semifinal match at Mt. San Antonio College.

The veteran told his team that the third time was the charm, a reference to the Panthers’ third match this season versus divisional rival La Serna, which had already twice beaten Poly.

While Katsuyama proved to be a soothsayer Wednesday, perhaps his statement wasn’t catered for a single serving.

That’s because thanks to his third-seeded Panthers’ 11-9 upset over second-seeded La Serna, Poly clinched advancement to its third straight divisional championship match Saturday at Irvine’s William Woollett Jr. Aquatic Center at 5:30 p.m. with the goal of winning the program’s first-ever title.

Poly will face top-seeded Pacific League champion Glendale (21-5), which dispatched of Riverside Poly, 14-7, and will also look for its first championship banner in its inaugural visit.

“I knew coming in that our guys had a great chance to win this game,” said Katsuyama, whose team improved to 2-4 versus La Serna over the last three years, including a 17-9 defeat to the Lancers in the 2010 title match. “We picked a great time to get a win versus La Serna.

“The first time we played them [an 8-7 overtime loss on Aug. 30] we were just figuring out who we were. The second time we lost [11-10 in overtime on Sept. 15], we were without Kelly McGee. Today we were whole.”

Poly’s approach was wholly different Wednesday, as the Prep League champion Panthers (25-2) proved the bully in taking a 4-1 lead after one quarter on single goals from Dennis Grover, Omar Dairi, Spencer Rogers and Brock Hudnut.

“I felt like last year, we weren’t as much of a team, it was more like individual effort,” said Hudnut, who finished with two goals and four assists. “This year, we’re more of a team. We’re in it together and we don’t have to depend on one person to score all the goals.”

Poly later took its biggest lead of 7-2 on a goal from Chris McWilliams, who was assisted by Hudnut at the 3:32 mark in the second quarter.

The goal, however, seemed to spark the dormant Del Rio League champion Lancers (22-8), who responded with a pair of quarter-closing goals from George Mooney and then opened the third with a score from Mitchel Embery with 5:17 left that brought La Serna within 7-5.

Again, though, the Panthers showed off some flexibility in bouncing back with scores from Hudnut and McGee in going back up, 9-5, at the end of the third.

While Mooney netted another score with 5:01 remaining in the fourth to put his squad within 10-7, the Lancers were unable to further close the gap until Mooney netted his fourth and final goal with 32 seconds left that cemented the score at 11-9.

Following the Mooney score, Poly successfully ran out the clock.

Not lost in the offensive flurry was a stellar defensive effort from Panthers goalie Josh Ball, who had the unenviable task of taking over for current Harvard University standout Colin Woolway.

“This feels great because you knew that Colin was such a great player and he’s going to Harvard now,” said Ball, who finished with 12 saves, including two in the first period on a Lancers six-on-five opportunity. “To be able to follow in his footsteps and lead the same team to the CIF Finals for a third time is magic.”

Rogers led the Panthers with three goals and a steal, while Dairi added two goals, two assists and two steals and Grover tallied two goals and an assist.