Comments on: Foothill water polo pulls the upset, 11-10, in Division I shocker

By: Bob

Bob — Sat, 08 Nov 2008 05:25:12 +0000

El Toro bounced back to beat No. 2 Los Alamitos by one goal (I believe it was 9-8) in overtime on Friday afternoon at El Toro's pool in another exciting game.

Total clock mismanagement by referees in last few minutes of game on Wednesday, but Foothill's goalie was awesome. A shootout would have really been something to see.

On Friday, Chargers raced to 4-1 lead at end of first quarter and led at halftime, 5-3. Played nearly half the game without Griffin White, who suffered an eye injury. Also standout sophomore Russell Reneteria did not play (I believe he was sick).

Griffins had ball for nearly entire last minute of second overtime period and couldn't do anything with it, with game ending on a pass to a Los Al player inside 2-meters (penalty).

So what does this do to Division I rankings? Does Foothill jump over both El Toro and Los Alamitos? I think Chargers still deserve to be No. 1, having beaten Foothill earlier in season and having suffered only two losses (one to state's top-ranked team, Miramonte).

BTW, El Toro's Frosh-Soph and Novice teams both hammered Foothill on Wednesday to win Sea View League championships. The future looks bright for the Chargers.

By: DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com

DAN ALBANO, ocvarsity.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 18:31:59 +0000

polodad - you are correct that Santa Margarita's win over JSerra was a bigger upset than Foothill over El Toro. SM coach Ricks wrote to me earlier today and called it the biggest boys win of his tenure.

The Eagles, however, need another big win Fri because ... (Here's the answer to your question)

JSerra’s boys water polo team this morning won a coin-flip for third place in the Trinity League, leaving Santa Margarita and Servite to play for third place. That match will be played Friday at Servite at 4 p.m.

The Eagles forced the three-way tie by upsetting No. 8 JSerra on Wednesday. But by winning the coin-flip, the Lions helped minimize the damage.

By: Dan Albano

Dan Albano — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 07:51:19 +0000

I have adjusted Lovero's goalie saves to 23 ... That last save against Griffin White doesn't count because the goal would not have counted because of the ejection on the play - interference on a direct shot

By: polodad

polodad — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 06:15:46 +0000

What a shocker. The bigger shocker to me however was JSerra getting beat by Santa Margarita. How does the 3 way tie between JSerra, SM, and Servite get decided?

By: Dan Albano

Dan Albano — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 03:37:02 +0000

Div1Polo- I just posted the box score. And for all those wondering, Jay Lovero's goalie stats are not a typo. The kid looked like Merrill Moses at the Olympics tonight. He had saves in the first period alone. Foothill's Becky Brumm, who does a great with stats, had him with 23

By: Div1Polo

Div1Polo — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:58:53 +0000

Thanks Dan for the blog for those of us who couldn't be there! Very exciting. Could we have the box scores?

By: STEVE FRYER, ocvarsity.com

STEVE FRYER, ocvarsity.com — Thu, 06 Nov 2008 02:43:08 +0000

I am very interested in how El Toro will play Friday against Los Alamitos. That's something to love about county water polo -- all the coaches gladly schedule games against the toughest opponents. I wish more football and basketball coaches did that.