Alina King provided the offensive spark, and the Dos Pueblos defense did the rest in a 5-3 girls water polo victory over Santa Barbara High in a Channel League game on Tuesday at the Elings Aquatic Center.
The Chargers’ victory sets up a showdown with Ventura for second place in the standings and the No. 2 seed in next week’s Channel League Tournament. The game between the 4-1 teams is Wednesday at the EAC at 3:15 p.m.
Fourth-place Santa Barbara (2-3 in league) completes its regular league season at home against Oxnard on Wednesday.
King scored two goals during a three-goal second period that gave the Chargers a 4-1 lead against the Dons. Earlier in the period, she caught a long pass from goalie Megan Garner on the counterattack and drew a major penalty. But DP missed the ensuing penalty shot, leaving the game scoreless.
After Keira McAvoy drove unguarded in front and scored off a Addison Parrish assist to break the 0-0 deadlock, King delivered a sweet lob over Santa Barbara’s outstanding goalie and University Hawai’i-bound Nalani Yim at the 3:47 mark.
“We knew going in that we can go for the lobs (against Nalani),” said King. “I had the open space and I was like, ‘Okay, I just got to do it.’ So I went for it and got it over her.”
King used her power on the second goal, beating two defenders before shooting past Yim for a 4-1 advantage with 2:24 left in the second period.
“It’s hard to get past her, definitely,” said King. “Like that first quarter, it was rough for us but Keira’s goal helped us get started.”
Addie Sweeney scored for Santa Barbara in the second quarter to prevent the Dons from being shut out in the first half.
Dos Pueblos disrupted Santa Barbara’s offense with a high press and blanket coverage on playmaker Layla Szymczak. She was held scoreless.
“That was our strategy going into the game, being able to cover Layla because their strategy was just get the ball to Layla and she can shoot it,” explained King. “I think that’s definitely how we were able to lock down their team, with strong pressing on the outside and then being able to drop when Layla does have the ball so she can’t even get off.”
The fifth goal for DP was a nice bit of teamwork. From the right wing, Sofia Huebner swung the ball to Mavoy on top and she fed HanaLora Abel inside for the score and a 5-1 lead in the third period.
“It was really nice,” said King. “I feel like that’s definitely a good example of how well we can work together.”
Santa Barbara made things interesting in the fourth period as Tatum Daugherty and Sweeney scored to make it 5-3 with 1:38 to go.
The Dons got the ball back on a steal, but they turned the ball over. DP ran down the clock before giving the ball back to Santa Barbara with just 16 seconds left.
Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh said the closeness of the game showed how far his team has come this season with a mixed group of veterans and less-experienced players.
“We are definitely playing a lot better than we were to begin the year,” he said. “We talked about that. We’re starting to play some real water polo and it’s not as disjointed as it was at times this year. It’s just more of the girls finding their roles and learning when to be aggressive, when to defer to some of the more experienced girls. It’s a fine line, and the girls really communicate well.
“Obviously, having Nalani as the backstop of the defense is a great luxury for us.”
Dos Pueblos coach Chris Parrish said Yim’s strong play affected his shooters and kept Santa Barbara in the game.
“As soon as she started making blocks, we just tightened up a little bit. We didn’t execute on our 6 on 5 very well and that was frustrating.
“But on the bright side, we played good defense. With the exception of that first-half goal, it was really tight up until the end.”
