By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor Poly fell behind 3-0 at beginning of its biggest game of the year. The Panthers, though, responded like the No. 1 seeds they were, and defeated Xavier Prep, 10-5, to earn the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 championship Saturday afternoon at the William Woollett Aquatics Center at Irvine High School. Poly […]
By Brian Reed-Baiotto, Sports Editor
Poly fell behind 3-0 at beginning of its biggest game of the year.
The Panthers, though, responded like the No. 1 seeds they were, and defeated Xavier Prep, 10-5, to earn the CIF-Southern Section Division 5 championship Saturday afternoon at the William Woollett Aquatics Center at Irvine High School.
Poly freshman Talie Wilmans scored as the buzzer rang to signify the end of the first quarter and that pulled the Panthers to within 3-1.
From that point forward, Poly outscored the Saints, 9-2, which included 11 saves from goalie Kate McInerny.
Wilmans went on to score a game-high 5 goals.
Colleen Woo and Natalie Clark scored 2 goals each for the Panthers.
Woo did much more than scoring though.
The senior had 3 assists and 4 steals to go with her 2 goals.
Poly started the season ranked No. 33 in CIF, and finished as the CIF champions.
Morgan Shafia’s goal accounted for the rest of the Poly (24-5) offense.
Savanna Jessup had a game-high 12 saves in goal for Xavier Prep and Jillian Barbato’s 2 goals were tops for the Saints.
Quotable:
Poly coach Ryan Katsuyama: “When the girls came to the huddle after the first period, I reminded them that we were in the same exact situation against Santa Ana Valley in the semifinals. All we had to do was keep pushing the counter-attack, but do so with better, safer passes. On the defensive side, we had to limit the easy shots they got in the 1st period and look to help double team their top shooters.
We slowly chipped away at the lead and when senior Colleen Woo scored in the 3rd period to tie the game and another goal to give us our first lead of the game, you could tell the momentum was definitely on our side.
The final quarter saw Xavier Prep try and spread out our team, leaving 1 or 2 players in the offensive zone. If anything, this gave Talie Wilmans, Natalie Clark, Lucy Harvey and Colleen Woo more room to work their magic on the other end of the pool as we scored 4 goals in the final quarter to put the game away.
Junior goalkeeper Kate McInerny had another solid game in the playoffs, recording 11 saves versus only 5 goals allowed.
The victory is the 2nd girls water polo CIF title in school history. It’s the 3rd water polo CIF title in school history, if you count the boys title we won in 2012.”
Box Score:
Xavier Prep: 3-0-1-1-(5)
Poly: 1-1-4-4-(10)
Xavier Prep Scoring: Jillian Barbato 2, Camille Dervieux 1, Emma Cooper 1, Reina Rover 1.
Pasadena Poly Scoring: Talie Wilmans 5, Colleen Woo 2, Natalie Clark 2, Morgan Shafia 1.
Shots on Goal: Xavier Prep 33; Pasadena Poly 34.
Goalie Saves: Savanna Jessup (Xavier) 12, Kate McInerny (Poly) 11.
