Fourth-quarter comeback can’t lift El Capitan boys water polo team past Woodcreek in semis
The postseason run of the El Capitan High School boys water polo team came to an end with a hard-fought 18-17 loss to No. 3 Woodcreek in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division II semifinals on Wednesday night at El Capitan High School.
Timberwolves senior Caden Rutan scored eight goals and teammate Shane Carter added five goals as Woodcreek earned its way to Saturday’s section championship game against No. 1 seed Ponderosa.
“(Rutan) is a phenomenal player,” said El Capitan coach Evan Spiva, whose team finished with a 19-7 record. “We knew we were going to need to slow him down if we were going to out on top in this game.”
Gauchos senior Rob Carpenter drew a crowd almost everywhere he moved in the pool but still managed to score a team-high six goals.
Ryan Smith added four goals and Michael Brown and Cooper Thomas both scored three goals for the Gauchos.
El Capitan kept pace with Woodcreek early on as the score was tied 4-4 late in the first quarter, but the Gauchos went almost 6 minutes without scoring during the first half.
The Timberwolves scored four consecutive goals during that stretch to build an 8-4 lead.
Spiva said two earlier ejections called on the Gauchos top defensive player Brown hurt his squad early.
The Gauchos fought back in the second half, cutting the Woodcreek lead down to two goals three times in the third quarter and even pulled within 11-10 with 17 seconds left in the third quarter.
However, the Timberwolves seized the momentum with a goal by Jacob Rosenbaum with 3.8 seconds left in the third quarter.
Carter then opened the fourth quarter with two goals and back-to-back counter attacks to stretch the lead to 14-10 with 5:39 left in the game.
The Gauchos clawed their way back with seven fourth-quarter goals, but couldn’t overcome the Timberwolves.
Spiva applauded his team’s effort.
“That’s the heart of our guys,” Spiva said. “That’s the way they’ve played all season long. They’re relentless, we haven’t had a game all year where we flopped over and let the other team win. They’ve fought all year long.”
