CdM wins in OT

Joseph Boo

PLACENTIA - At least the fans thought it was exciting.

After Corona del Mar High’s boys water polo team gutted out a dramatic,

7-5, overtime win on Wednesday over host El Dorado in the CIF Southern

Section Division I quarterfinals, CdM Coach John Vargas said bemusedly,

“I don’t like exciting games.”

Well, it certainly provided for high drama, as the Sea Kings (16-9) had

to overcome a tough El Dorado goalie to take the lead, only to lose it,

and finally won in overtime with goals from Garrett Bowlus and Morgan

Johnston.

“We didn’t expect such a hard game in the quarterfinals,” Johnston said.

“We expected this type of game in the semis or finals.”

CdM had a tough time scoring, even though it got a number of good shots.

A Garrett Gentry shot in the first quarter just fell short of a goal.

Another shot hit the crossbar. And several more shots ended up hitting

the goalie or goal mouth, but not the back of the net.

“I don’t think we were taking great shots,” Vargas said.

Besides the almost-goals, Golden Hawk goalie Ararat Oganesyan was

stifling. He got four of his 18 saves in the second quarter, two of them

point blank and one off his finger tip. El Dorado (16-11) also scored

twice in that quarter to take a 2-1 lead at halftime.

CdM tied up the game 30 seconds into the third quarter with a six-on-five

goal from Johnston. The play was an exact duplicate of the Sea Kings’

first goal, where David Fabian fed a nice entry pass to Johnston for a

tip in.

CdM’s defense also picked it up in the second half. The Golden Hawks had

a difficult time setting up its offense as an aggressive Sea Kings’

defense grabbed 18 steals. And CdM goalie Brad Netherton got 10 saves.

“I’m really happy with our defense,” Vargas said. “Our best part is

defense.”

The Sea Kings took the lead in the third when Gentry scored off a

six-on-five. After El Dorado tied it, Gentry scored again, this time from

the two-meter.

The Sea Kings extended the lead with a goal from Bowlus. Then El Dorado

tied it with two quick goals. The Hawks also had a chance to win at the

end when two shots hit the top cross bar.

It took exactly 20 seconds in the first overtime for the Sea Kings to

retake the lead. Alex Niehenke got the ball into Bowlus, who immediately

fired the ball in. Four more CdM steals kept El Dorado at bay, and

Johnston’s goal with eight seconds left clinched the win.

“We seem to play our best under pressure,” Johnston said.

“It was one of those games,” Vargas said. “Next game, we’ll turn it

around.”

While the win was too exciting for Vargas, he was still happy.

“I’m plenty happy with the win,” he said. “Any time you advance to the

semifinals is reason to be happy.”

CdM, the No. 2 seed in these eliminations, will most likely face No.

4-seeded Los Alamitos Saturday in the semifinals, at Newport Harbor.

CIF DIVISION II PLAYOFFS

Corona del Mar 7, El Dorado 5

Corona del Mar 1 0 3 1 1 1 - 7

El Dorado 1 1 1 2 0 0 - 5

Corona del Mar: Johnston 3, Bowlus 2, Gentry 2. Saves: Netherton 10.

El Dorado: Patterson 3, Reta 2. Saves: Oganesyan 18.