San Marcos boys water polo’s comeback effort came up short in a 13-10 loss to Loyola High in the CIF-SS Div. 1 Quarterfinals on Thursday at Elings Aquatic Center in Goleta.
The Royals outscored the top-seeded Cubs 4-2 in the final quarter but ultimately fell and brought their season to a close. Loyola will take on Dos Pueblos in the semifinals next Wednesday in Los Angeles.
“We knew we were ranked lower and we had a lot to prove, and they had a lot to defend,” San Marcos head coach Peera Sukavivatanachai said. “We’ve had a lot of ups and downs (this season), tough losses, some really close games.
“It’s been an interesting season kind of figuring out roles and responsibilities for each individual player. Each person, individually, has really stepped up.”
Loyola got out to a strong start, scoring back-to-back goals in the first two minutes of play for the early 2-0 lead. The Royals answered at the 4:45 mark when Ryder Wilson found Jack Kramer for his first goal of the night to make it 2-1.
The rest of the quarter was a defensive affair, as San Marcos’ Titus Fernandez came up with four steals in the quarter. However, the Cubs picked up one more goal before the end of the first to take a 3-1 lead into the second.
The second quarter got off to a hot start, as the two teams changed goals back and forth until Loyola held a 5-3 lead with 4:39 left in the quarter. The San Marcos goals came courtesy of a putback by Kramer and an outside shot from Will Stuart.
The Cubs then scored back-to-back goals to extend their lead to 7-3 and prompt a Royals’ timeout midway through the quarter.
San Marcos found a surge of energy out of the break, scoring two unanswered goals by Kramer and Jake Magid to cut the deficit down to 7-5 with three minutes to go in the half.
Both goals were assisted by Wilson, who ended the night with five total assists to lead the team.
“[Wilson] has been super dynamic,” Sukavivatanachai said. “He’s present on both sides of the pool, so we’re super stoked to have him as a sophomore. He’s going to have pretty big responsibilities and big roles for us coming in the next two years or so.”
However, once again, the Cubs punched back with two more goals before the half ended to bring their lead to 9-5.
Loyola scored in the opening minutes of the third, but both defenses then buckled down to keep the game at 10-5 for the majority of the quarter.
The Cubs broke the drought with another goal to extend their lead to 11-5 at the 1:31 mark, but the Royals quickly answered on a goal by Christian Yonker off another assist by Wilson. The 11-6 score held into the fourth quarter.
While the Loyola offense slowed down and looked to drain the clock in the fourth, San Marcos remained aggressive and scored the first two goals of the quarter, thanks to Kramer and Wilson, to cut the deficit to 11-8 with 3:07 to play.
The Cubs then got on the board to make it 12-8, but the Royals continued to put their foot on the gas with goals from Kramer and Stuart to make it a 12-10 game in the final minute of play.
Kramer was in the middle of the action all night for San Marcos, scoring a team-high five goals.
“[Kramer] really showed up,” Sukavivatanachai said. “He’s been struggling a little bit through our season, so to see him come full circle today and light up, I think that was great.”
While the Royals put a scare into the Cubs in the fourth, the visitors scored one last goal to put the finishing touches on the 13-10 win.
“I think it shows we have a lot of senior leadership with Will Stuart, Jake Magid and Jack Kramer,” Sukavivatanachai said of the late comeback effort.