South County water polo fans should circle Saturday, Feb. 27, on their sports calendars. On that date, a history-making CIF championship girls water polo double-header will transpire at the La Jolla High School pool when top-seeded Hilltop and Mar Vista high school teams reward their fans with first-time appearances in the San Diego Section finals.
Top-seeded Hilltop (23-5) will meet second-seeded Serra (11-4) in the Division III championship game at 12:15 p.m., while top-seeded Mar Vista (25-6) will battle second-seeded Scripps Ranch (21-8) in the Division II championship game at 2:30 p.m.
The games are part of four title games to be contested that day at LJHS. Top-seeded Vista (11-6) will match up with second-seeded Fallbrook (21-9) in the Division I championship game at 4:45 p.m.
The Open Division clash will close out the quadruple championship bash at 7 p.m. as top-seeded La Jolla (25-4) takes on second-seeded Bishop’s (25-6).
Saturday’s history-making moment has definitely not been lost on veteran Hilltop head coach Ernie Medina, a Lancer alumnus.
“Hilltop is gunning for its first CIF banner for the girls; the last time the boys won a CIF title was in 1980,” the longtime South County aquatics guru duly noted. “Our girls are so excited about possibly making history for Hilltop.”
Green and black
Hilltop defeated fourth-seeded Point Loma, 12-3, in Monday’s division semifinal game played at the LJHS pool to advance to this weekend’s championship game.
Sophia Espinoza led the Lady Lancers with five goals, four ejections earned, five steals and one assist, while teammate Mildred Monsivias contributed two goals, one ejection earned, two assists and two steals.
Nickie Torres had two goals, one ejection earned, one five-meter penalty shot earned and four steals, while Priscilla Rude added two goals, three steals and one assist.
Also for Hilltop, Frances Carreon had one goal, three steals and one assist while Jackie Zatarain had two assists and two steals.
Dani Diaz supported her teammates in the water by making six goalie saves and three steals.
The Lady Lancers previously defeated eighth-seeded Otay Ranch, 17-3, in the division quarterfinals on Feb. 18, also at LJHS.
Rude led Hilltop with five goals in that game while Espinoza and Torres each scored four goals. The Lady Lancers also received single goals from Monsivias, Ivanna Martinez, Cassandra Monroy Hidalgo and Rayna Moraga.
Torres led the victors with nine steals while Rude and Espinoza each recorded three steals. Mosiviais, Carreon and Jackie Zatarain each had two steals while Miranda Garcia had one steal.
Espinoza had three exclusions earned while Torres had one exclusion earned.
Espinoza and Carreon each collected three assists while Monsivias and Zatarain each had two assists; Torres and Garcia each had one assist.
Diaz recorded 13 goalie saves while making four steals.
Serra defeated third-seeded Olympian, 8-5, in Monday’s other semifinal match to join Hilltop in Saturday’s division championship game.
The Lady Conquistadors are 2-0 in the playoffs after previously defeating 10th-seeded Oceanside, 11-4, in the quarterfinals.
“We have not played Serra, but from what I can tell, both teams are pretty equal,” Medina noted.
Espinoza has been on a scoring rampage this season. She enters Saturday’s title contest with 112 goals to her credit this season, including nine in two playoff games.
Mar Vista won this year’s Mesa League championship title with a 9-1 league record; Hilltop finished second in Mesa League play with an 8-2 league record.
Double the fun
The girls water polo championship double-header continues the success of Metro Conference teams in the sport during the 2015-16 school term. Eastlake (Division II) and Bonita Vista (Division III) both recorded runner-up finishes in the CIF boys finals during the fall season.
And that’s not all.
Mar Vista’s boys water polo team made history during the 2013-14 season by advancing to the Division II championship game. Now the Imperial Beach school’s girls water polo team has matched that and will attempt to build on the boys team’s runner-up finish by claiming the school’s first division championship banner in the sport.
It took a gritty effort in Tuesday’s semifinals from the reigning Mesa League champions to get the opportunity to accomplish that.
Fourth-seeded Clairemont (13-8) held a tenuous 1-0 halftime lead before the teams got their offenses started by each scoring two goals in the third quarter.
The Lady Mariners erased a 3-2 Clairemont lead by scoring the only two goals in the fourth quarter. Isabelle Hastings scored the game-winning goal in the dying seconds.
MVHS head coach Chad Kavanagh said his team was “overwhelmed” by the significance of the victory.
Mar Vista enters Saturday’s division championship game riding a seven-game winning streak. Interestingly, the last losses for both the Lady Mariners and the Lady Falcons were to University City.
Mar Vista lost, 6-4, in a San Diego Open tournament encounter on Feb. 4 while Scripps Ranch dropped a 9-5 encounter with the Lady Centurions in an Eastern League game on Feb. 12.
Scripps Ranch defeated third-seeded West Hills, 7-2, in Tuesday’s semifinals after previously dispatching seventh-seeded Bonita Vista, 11-4, in last Friday’s quarterfinals.
The Lady Mariners advanced to Tuesday’s semifinals on the strength of a 9-6 quarterfinal-round victory against ninth-seeded Poway. In that game, Hastings led Mar Vista with four goals while Shyla Toledo contributed three goals and one assist. Lauryn Rockwell and Stephanie Morales each tacked on one goal.
The Lady Mariners broke out to a 5-0 halftime lead and took a commanding 8-1 lead into the final quarter before attempting a late comeback bid with five goals.
Starting goalie Sarah Carr allowed one goal on 12 shots for Mar Vista.
Making a splash
Overall, five Metro Conference teams qualified in the Division III bracket and two in the Division II field.
South Bay League champion Olympian defeated sixth-seeded Escondido (16-11) by a score of 8-5 in the Division III quarterfinals.
The Lady Eagles, who finished 10-0 in league play, finished 15-8 on the season after falling short in the semifinals.
Chelsea Samperio paced Olympian with three goals in the semifinal loss while Cassandra Greene scored two goals. Both players collected three steals. Maddie Christiansen blocked eight of 16 shots she faced in the cage.
Escondido faced off the playoffs with a 6-4 win over 11th-seeded Monte Vista (7-22) in an opening round match-up on Feb. 16.
Otay Ranch topped Classical Academy, 8-5, in another Division III first-round game while Poway upset eighth-seeded San Pasqual (14-16) by a 4-3 score.
San Pasqual finished runner-up in last year’s Division III final.
Greene led the Lady Eagles with three goals in the quarterfinal win while Andrea Loya and Samperio each scored two goals. Samperio led Olympian with five steals. Christiansen blocked nine of 14 Escondido shots.
Bonita Vista, seeded seventh in Division II, captured a high-scoring 23-19 first-round victory in overtime against 10th-seeded Mission Hills in the opening round. The teams were tied 18-18 through four quarters of regulation before the Lady Barons (16-9) reeled off a decisive 5-1 scoring edge in the OT session.
Mater Dei Catholic, seeded fifth in the Division III field, eliminated 12th-seeded Mt. Miguel, 15-4, in the opening round. The Lady Crusaders (11-16) advanced to meet fourth-seeded Point Loma (12-13) in the quarterfinals. The Lady Pointers escaped with a 6-5 win to advance to Monday’s semifinals.
Southwest, seeded seventh in Division III, met 10th-seeded Oceanside in Tuesday’s first round, with Oceanside winning 8-7 to advance to meet second-seeded Serra in the quarterfinals.
Southwest finished the season 10-8.
In Thursday’s Open Division semifinals,top-seeded La Jolla defeated fifth-seeded Valhalla, 14-6, while second-seeded Bishop’s edged third-seeded Carlsbad 8-7.
Carlsbad finished the season 19-8 while Valhalla finished the season 28-3.
