Carpinteria pulled out three close wins and captured the Conejo Classic boys water polo tournament championship on Saturday in Thousand Oaks.
The Warriors defeated Camarillo in the final, 10-7, after edging Brentwood (11-9) and Foothill Tech (8-6). They opened the tournament with a 12-6 win over Exeter of the Central Valley.
Carpinteria extended a 5-4 halftime lead to 8-5 by the end of the third period in the final. Camarillo threatened in the fourth period, but Ali Hamadi scored two goals and goalie Liam Slade came up big. Slade finished with 13 saves and Hamadi had six goals in the game and 15 in the tournament.
In a back-and-forth against Brentwood, the Warriors were up 10-9 in the last minute when freshman Mateo Handall received a pass. He smartly shot a rainbow lob that bounced off the cross bar and into the net for the clinching goal.
“Mateo has earned the nickname IQ for his water polo intelligence and decision making,” said assistant coach Sergio Castaneda.
Against Foothill Tech, Carpinteria went up 4-1 before the Dragons battled back and pulled to within one, 6-5, in the fourth period.
“This game was rough on the Warriors as they faced ejection after ejection, forcing them to play a man down for a significant portion of time,” said Castaneda. “However, the Warriors were unshaken despite the situation that also involved two team members being majored and one being injured from the squad.”
Solomon Nahooikika-Anderson scored two crucial goals and blocked multiple shots in the field on man-down situations. Slade also frustrated the Dragons with superb play in the cage.
In the first game, freshmen Reyn Clayton and Coby Gonzalez scored one and two goals, respectively, in their debuts, while their defensive play got the team multiple steals.
“We were excited about our first-ever tournament win with this new squad,” said Castaneda.
Carpintera is now 4-1 on the young season.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.