CdM edges Foothill, 6-5
Richard Dunn
In a classic battle of goalkeepers and perhaps a record number of
shots hitting the cross bar or posts, Corona del Mar High’s boys
water polo team squeezed in the winning shot with 1:02 left as the host Sea Kings edged Foothill, 6-5, in the CIF Southern Section
Division I quarterfinals Saturday.
“That was a tough one,” said CdM Coach Tim Salvino, whose team
(21-7) beat Foothill for the fourth time in four games this season,
“which is very difficult to do against a good team, but that just
shows our team’s composure.”
Second-seeded Corona del Mar, winners of the last three CIF
Division II titles, will square off against third-seeded
Harvard-Westlake (22-4) in the semifinals Wednesday at a neutral
site. A coin flip will determine the home team. CdM and
Harvard-Westlake split two games this year, with the Wolverines
earning a 10-7 nonleague victory at home Sept. 19 and the Sea Kings
winning, 12-10, at the Northern California Tournament two weeks ago.
But Corona del Mar needed to slip past Foothill (15-12) first.
“This game was similar to our first game against (the Knights),
when we won by four in overtime,” said Salvino, whose team built a
4-2 halftime lead, only to see Foothill rally in the third quarter to
tie it, before a nail-biting fourth quarter.
CdM’s Griffin Gentry, one of the team’s best two-meter guards,
picked up his third ejection with 5:19 left in the game and matters
deadlocked, 4-4. Salvino was concerned, but the CdM defense responded
by shutting down Foothill’s ensuing man advantage.
Then, with 4:16 remaining, CdM’s John Mann scored on a four-meter
penalty shot, but Foothill tied it again, 5-5, on its next trip down
on Alex Cripe’s goal at 3:54 on a backhanded shot in the hole.
After an exchange of turnovers, CdM’s David DiRocco fired a
counterattack shot that bounced hard off the cross bar and Foothill
regained possession. But CdM’s defense stopped the Knights again.
On the Sea Kings’ next counterattack, Ryan Moore scored with 1:02
to play after a pass from DiRocco and shot to the lower-left corner
of the goal, just under the right arm of talented Foothill goalie
Sandy Hohener (10 saves).
Then, CdM’s defense stepped up again as the Sea Kings reduced
Foothill into attempting a wild, long-range shot after a Knights
timeout with 0:30 left. CdM’s Artie Dorr ran out the clock.
“We hung in there. We have to, because we have limited depth,”
Salvino said. “We only have nine, 10 guys, and for them to hang in
there in a long, tough game, that’s huge.”
CdM goalie Beau Stockstill finished with 12 saves, including six
in the third quarter when teams were firing away at the cage, mostly
coming up short. Foothill outscored CdM in the third quarter, 2-0,
and outshot the Sea Kings, 11-6. Foothill had 34 shots in the game,
CdM had 24.
“We couldn’t miss more shots if we tried,” Salvino said. “Our
goalkeeper played a great game ... in my opinion, those two
(Stockstill and Hohener) are the best high school goalies around ...
(the Knights) got some momentum in the third quarter and we ended up
staving them off and keeping our composure. That’s been our story the
whole season.”
The Sea Kings built a 3-2 lead after one quarter as Mann, Dorr and
DiRocco scored goals, the latter coming on the counterattack with
0:35 left on a goalkeeper assist to give CdM its edge. DiRocco scored
the game’s only goal in the second quarter on a cross-pool lob from
Dorr with 3:09 left on a man advantage.
CIF DIVISION I QUARTERFINALS
Corona del Mar 6, Foothill 5
Score by Quarters
Foothill 2 0 2 1
- 5
Corona del Mar 3 1 0
2 -- 6
Foothill - Krumpholtz 1, Cripe 1, Oland 1, Seymour 1,
Reynolds 1. Saves - Hohener 10.
CdM - Mann 2, DiRocco 2, Moore 1, Dorr 1. Saves -
Stockstill 12.
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