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.