Sports
San Clemente's Journey Is Complete; Tritons Win First Girls Water Polo Title
Top-seeded Tritons rebound from 1-0 first-quarter deficit to beat third-seeded Corona Santiago, 8-5, and win CIF Southern Section Division 2 girls water polo championship.
"Talented."
"Experienced."
"Cohesive."
The list of adjectives that properly describe the San Clemente girls water polo team grew by two Saturday afternoon at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.
The Tritons can now be called "Champions," and, perhaps even more impressively, "History-makers."
Riding the strength of an unforgettable 5-0 second quarter that turned a 1-0 deficit to Corona Santiago into a four-goal stranglehold by halftime, San Clemente dominated the CIF Southern Section Division 2 championship game, winning 8-5, to collect the school's first section title in girls water polo.
Both Candyce Schroeder and Celine Lazzaro scored three goals for the top-seeded Tritons, who, despite being out-shot, 29-26, by the third-seeded Sharks, led 8-3 with a minute remaining in the fourth quarter, and spent most of the final frame whittling away at the clock.
"It feels great. It really hasn't hit me yet; I don't know if it's hit anyone else," Mallory McCammon said. "It feels great to make history. We've worked years for this, and we've always wanted it, and we've never quite come in first in anything. So, to come in first now, after everything, after working so hard, it's indescribable actually."
San Clemente misfired on each of its six first-quarter attempts, including two shots that rattled off the post, while Julia Kirkland (three goals) gave the Sharks a 1-0 lead on a six-on-five goal with just under two minutes left.
As has been the case throughout the postseason, however, the Tritons picked up the pace exponentially in the middle frames, and turned in its best quarter of the season just before halftime.
Schroeder got the party started with a skip-shot score from head on at the 6:04 mark, and Lazzaro followed it up with another skip-shot, this time on a power-play, high-pass to the post from Schroeder.
Four of the five second-quarter scores were assisted, as Taylor Smith hooked up Schroeder to make it 3-1 with 2:38 left, then McCammon helped Schroeder make it 4-1 only 30 seconds later.
Lazarro capped the frame with San Clemente's third power-play goal on an assist from Kelsey Thornton (three steals) with 21 seconds left.
Meanwhile, Santiago sent two shots off the post, and Kayla Colapinto saved each of the Sharks' four remaining attempts.
"We tend to get nervous in the first quarter," said Colapointo, who finished with 12 saves. "It happened in all of our [playoff] games. We knew in the first quarter we would miss a few, but we always get in this rhythm by the second or third quarter. So, I don't know, I kind of was expecting it."
San Clemente twice successfully defended Santiago power plays in the second quarter, while Schroeder finished the frame with a hat trick on the other end.
"She's so good, we always can rely on her," Colapinto said of Schroeder. "Whenever she makes a goal, she's so strong when she does it, and the crowd goes crazy. When she scores, everyone gets pumped up."
The Tritons rode the momentum into the third quarter, starting off the second half with back-to-back power play denials of the Sharks, but Santiago finally broke through with 3:27 left when Kirkland scored on a skip-shot to make it 5-2.
Answering right back on the ensuing possession, Lazzaro scored the game's most impressive goal with two defenders draped all over her in the post.
A minute and a half later, McCammon made a steal on the defensive end and followed it up with a winner from the post to make it 7-2 and take the bite out of the Sharks, who sensed the writing was on the wall.
"I told the girls before the game, 'We have a special crew here,'" San Clemente coach Logan Powell said. "We have a special group of girls, and I didn't think that I had seen them play to their full potential. I think they brought it today. Their approach, everything. They really came together by the end of the year, and I think today was one of the best games they've ever played.
"They're peaking when they needed to peak, so it's great."
Thornton's lob score made it 8-2 early in the fourth, and San Clemente spent the remainder of the contest spreading the pool, and chewing up clock.
When the final buzzer sounded, Powell, along with the entire coaching staff, dove into the pool fully-dressed to celebrate the victory with their players.
"We're a family," McCammon said. "We have a bond together that I've never felt with any other team, and to think it's going to be different next year, I mean, we will return a solid group of players, but it's still going to be hard to lose three people that we consider a part of our family."
Though seniors Lazzaro, Mikaela Mourer and Lizzie Heinze, who McCammon described as the emotional heart of the team, will be moving on, because of the amount of talent and experience returning, San Clemente will likely be tabbed as a favorite to repeat as section champions in 2012.
Still, even as the Tritons now move forward, no longer in search of the title that had eluded them for years, that old saying will most assuredly ring true: You never forget the first.