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Mater Dei’s boys water polo team faced another batch of adversity Thursday night in the CIF-SS Division 1 playoffs.
The fifth-seeded Monarchs not only played on the road at No. 4 Oaks Christian before a packed crowd that chanted for the other “OC”, they did so without senior starter Connor McManigal, who was recently injured.
Mater Dei responded like it has throughout the season: with plenty of fight.
The team that lost its fiery Olympian coach, and then his replacement, and saw its rising star from last year transfer to a rival, scored the first two goals and never trailed until the first period of overtime against a team with one of the best juniors in the nation and a sizzling goalie senior goalie.
But in the decisive overtime, Oaks Christian was finally too much and sank the reigning CIF-SS Division 1 champion Monarchs 6-4 before a raucous crowd at Oaks Christian in Westlake Village.
Zach Frazier rolled out and scored from center off the opening sprint to the first three-minute overtime and Tanner Frost scored on the power-play with 34 seconds left in the second overtime to seal the Monarchs’ fate. Rising junior Alika Naone, a crafty and hard-throwing Hawaiian who plays like a European, drew the exclusion and teamed with goalie Adrian Weinberg (20 saves) to reach Wednesday’s semifinals against top-seeded and streaking Newport Harbor.
It was a breakthrough moment for Oaks Christian – sinking a multi-time section champion – but the Monarchs’ effort didn’t go unnoticed
These were the same Monarchs who surprisingly lost their Olympic coach Chris Segesman, who resigned at the peak of his success, and then lost his replacement, Milos Skaljac, to a controversial resignation. And Mater Dei lost attacker Cooper Haddad, a shooter with the potential of Naone, to Huntington Beach.
“The guys have been through a tough year,” said Mater Dei coach Brian Anderson, who took over for Skaljac. “They showed a lot of resiliency. … I’m proud of them. I’m proud of my seniors. They bring a lot of leadership to this squad.
“Just because they lost in a tough quarterfinal game doesn’t mean anything about their legacy.”
Warren Loth was one of the those key seniors. He scored the Monarchs’ first two goals and played strong 2-meter defense to take away the Lions’ main options at center.
In other first round games:
No. 1 Newport Harbor 9,Laguna Beach 6: Blake Jackson made 10 saves and the host Sailors (28-1) got four goals in the fourth period from four different players to reach the semifinals.
Harvard-Westlake 12, San Clemente 9: Hayden Kahn scored four goals and Christian Hosea added two in the loss for the visiting Tritons. Harvard-Westlake will play Loyola, an 11-8 winner against Santa Margarita at USC, in the semifinals Wednesday at Woollett.
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