Sonora shuts down El Capitan to advance to Division III water polo final

Goals were hard to come by for the El Capitan High School boys water polo team against a bigger, physical Sonora squad Wednesday.

The Wildcats held the Gauchos scoreless in the third quarter as they extend their lead to three goals on their way to a 7-4 win in the Sac-Joaquin Section Division III semifinals at Tokay High.

“We had a tough time finding some rhythm on offense,” El Capitan coach Rodd Parker said. “Getting goals was not really easy for us. Sonora did a great job on defense putting pressure on us.”

Early on, El Capitan (21-7) had success drawing ejections with movement on offense. The Gauchos drew three kick-outs in the first quarter and Steven Koenig scored in a 6-on-5 situation to pull the Gauchos within 2-1 with 2:33 left in the first quarter.

Each team managed just one goal in the second quarter with Evan Spiva scoring for El Capitan to cut Sonora’s lead to 3-2 at the half.

“It’s hard when over and over we can’t capitalize on our opportunities,” Koeing said. “It really hurts and does get frustrating at times. Sonora defended the hole-set well. They fronted well and were really physical. They got us out of our mojo and got us off balance.”

Sonora received goals from Justus Cotrone and Colter Bassi as it outscored El Capitan 2-0 in the third quarter to open a 5-2 lead.

“I think the second and third quarters we didn’t drive as much as that cost us ejections,” Koenig said. “When we were driving hard and moving, we were able to get the ejections. The second and third quarters we stayed away from it.”

Koenig drew a penalty shot early in the fourth quarter. Spiva converted to pull the Gauchos within 5-3 with 4:51 left.

El Capitan had an opportunity to pull within one a minute later with a man-up situation. The Gauchos worked the ball around to Koenig on the left side. Koenig lofted a pass to the near post, but Zak Jones fumbled the shot attempt.

Sonora quickly countered with Jonathan Gillespie scoring to extend the lead to 6-3 with 3:31 left.

“We work on our 6-on-5 hundreds of times,” Parker said. “We got our open guy on the post, but I think we were a little too anxious to shoot. We executed what we wanted to do, moving their players around. We just didn’t finish. That was key for us today. We didn’t finish.”

Garrett Thomas scored for El Capitan to cut the lead to 6-4 with 1:11 left, but Seth Farwell’s backhand goal put away the game for Sonora with 56 seconds left.

The Wildcats advance to Saturday’s championship game against Ripon.

“All the training and workouts we’ve done the last three years, it was tough at the end thinking this was the last couple minutes I would play with some of my best friends who are graduating,” Spiva said. “I’m extremely proud of our team. A 21-win season is not too bad.”

St. Mary’s 21, Merced 8 – The second-seeded Rams closed the first half with five consecutive goals to pull away from a 3-3 tie and dominated the rest of the way in the Division II semifinal.

Luis Araya added flair in the pool with a helicopter-like, spinning backhand goal early in the second quarter. He also had a behind-the-back pass for an assist to Matthew Hosmer for a goal that gave the Rams an 11-3 lead midway through the third quarter.

Araya scored eight goals as St. Mary’s advanced to Saturday’s championship game against Rio Americano.

Abraham Santana led the Bears (24-4) with four goals.

This story was originally published November 11, 2015 at 5:45 PM with the headline "Sonora shuts down El Capitan to advance to Division III water polo final."