The562’s coverage of Aquatic sports in Long Beach is sponsored by the Aquatic Capital of America Foundation.
For most of Tuesday night, Long Beach Poly was the slightly better team in the CIF-SS Division 3 girls’ water polo semifinals against Flintridge Sacred Heart at Cabrillo High. But the visiting Tologs did more than enough damage in the second quarter, outscoring the Jackrabbits 6-0 in that period on their way to a 14-9 victory.
Outside of that lopsided quarter, which was a big chunk of a 12:31 scoreless stretch for Poly, the Jackrabbits won the other three quarters by a 9-8 margin. That was the cause of Poly’s semifinal defeat, but the Jackrabbits and head coach Ali Landeros had their heads held high after the game.
“I am over the moon with this group,” said Landeros of his team’s semifinal run. “We certainly did not expect that it would end in a playoff, let alone a semi. So this was an absolute gift from them … I feel as coaches, we do very little in the sense of what happens in the pool. It’s their effort, it’s their talent, it’s their want and their fire to be in the water. And I’m absolutely privileged to have been the coach that was here with them.”
Sequoia Newman led the way for Poly’s offense, scoring five goals for the green & gold. Cailey Christen added a pair of goals and goalie Brooklyn Winterset collected eight stops in the cage.
The Tologs were fueled by their two-headed monster of Marisol Cowles and Lily Waggoner, who accounted for all but one of their goals on the night. Cowles led the way with seven tallies while Waggoner added six, with four of those goals coming in that vital second quarter run.
The Jackrabbits scored on their opening possession of the day as Newman hit the back of the net just 13 seconds into the game, then the lead went to 2-0 for Poly on her second goal a couple minutes later.
The visitors from Flintridge were able to hit their stride and level the score at 3-3 after the opening quarter, and took things over from there. In the second, the Tologs got the ball in the center to Waggoner and she was able to deliver consistently, while pressure defense on the other end of the pool made it tough for the Jackrabbits to get quality looks as they fell behind 9-3 at halftime.
“I called the timeout early in that (second) quarter, just to kind of recalibrate the girls,” Landeros explained. “It just comes down to getting their thoughts organized and remembering what the goal was. We figured it out in the half, but clearly not enough to come back against a team that was absolutely stellar. I love when I come out and face an opponent like Flintridge that is just absolutely talented and ruthless in their effort. I respect that.”
Poly was able to convert on a pair of man-up opportunities as Christen and Newman both hit the scoresheet. Then a goal from Leslie Vargas cut the deficit down to 10-6.
The Jackrabbits pulled to within three goals with 2:36 to play as Newman converted from 5 meters, but that’s as close as Poly could get.
Flintridge Sacred Heart will take on top-seeded Elsinore in the CIF-SS finals on Saturday at Mt. SAC.
