Stingy defense and an offensive explosion from senior Nic Prentice boosted the San Marcos High boys’ water polo team to a 8-5 victory over Riverside Poly in the CIF-SS Division 2 Quarterfinals on Saturday afternoon.
Prentice scored five goals, the last of which gave the Royals an 8-3 late in the third quarter. San Marcos was able to withstand a fourth quarter surge by Riverside Poly to advance to a semifinal match on Wednesday against Portola, which will be part of a doubleheader at Elings Aquatic Center on the Dos Pueblos campus.
“Defense was the name of the game for us. We did a lot of research on this team and we knew Rafael Martinez is an amazing player and super explosive out of center,” said San Marcos coach Peera Sukavivatanachai. “We knew he had to be double teamed and force those other guys on the perimeter to step up and score.”
A goal by Prentice at the 5:39 mark of the first quarter opened the scoring, but Riverside Poly responded moments later with a goal by Zac McDonald.
The Royals turned defense to offense for their next goal as a steal up top resulted in a Prentice goal in transition to put San Marcos ahead 2-1 with 4:28 remaining in the first quarter.
Caden Devincenzo of Riverside Poly closed the first quarter scoring with 35 seconds remaining to even the score at 2-2.
San Marcos took control in the second quarter, outscoring the Bears 4-1, including a goal by Prentice that increased the Royals lead to 6-3.
In the third quarter a nice assist from Will Stuart to Mateo Obando resulted in a San Marcos goal increasing the Royals’ lead to 7-3. Prentice’s fifth and final goal put San Marcos ahead 8-3 with 2:56 remaining in the third quarter.
“It’s exciting knowing that we had an opportunity to really take it to them,” Prentice said. “I had some lucky matchups, our center took their best defender away. That gave me the opportunity to work around and get some goals.”
With a commanding lead going into the fourth quarter, the Royals withstood Riverside Poly’s desperation barrage in the final period to secure the victory.
Dos Pueblos, 9; Arcadia 8
The Chargers overcame an early 5-2 deficit, outscoring Arcadia 7-3 in the second half to survive and advance to the semifinals.
Jaden Moore scored four goals including three in the third quarter to pace Dos Pueblos. Benjamin Fuhrer added three goals. The Chargers will host Channel League rival Ventura in the CIF-SS Division 2 semifinals on Wednesday.