San Marcos boys water polo’s quest to repeat as CIF-SS champions began with a hard-fought 7-6 victory over Long Beach Wilson on Thursday at Elings Aquatics Center.
The Royals did not score in the second half, but a strong defensive effort spearheaded by an impressive 13-save performance from goalie Sam Rich allowed them to hold on for the win.
“I think we’re physically fit, we’re capable and obviously we’re still shaking off the cobwebs,” San Marcos coach Peera Sukavivatanachai told Noozhawk after the season opener. “It’s been a while since this group played together as a unit so I think this is a great stepping stone for us to launch our season.”
San Marcos started on the right foot when Mateo Obando found Alden Klein one minute into the first period, and he lofted a shot over the Long Beach Wilson goalie for the 1-0 lead.
After the Bruins came back and evened the score a few minutes later, San Marcos’ AJ Scarborough answered on the ensuing possession with an inside goal off an assist from Kai Heeps to make it 2-1.
Long Beach Wilson once again scored to bring the game to 2-2, but Scarborough converted an inside shot on the next possession to take the lead back with 1:52 left in the first.
“AJ did a great job in that first quarter there drawing the quick exclusion and scoring on the 6-on-5, he’s stepping up his game,” Sukavivatanachai said.
With time ticking off at the end of the opening period, Jake Magid found Christian Yonker for a score to give the Royals a 4-2 advantage.
San Marcos got a boost from the defensive end of the pool to begin the second period when Rich stepped up and saved a 1-on-1 shot with a Long Beach Wilson attacker.
However, the Bruins cut the deficit to 4-3 with a goal at the 5:44 mark in the second.
One minute later, Klein netted his second goal of the day from the outside to extend the San Marcos lead back out to two goals at 5-3.
Following some more strong play from Rich and the Royals’ defense, Will Stuart attacked the Long Beach Wilson from the outside and found the back of the net to give San Marcos a 6-3 advantage.
A San Marcos goal from Hudson Macleod and a score by the Bruins in the final 30 seconds of the first half put the score at 7-4 in favor of the Royals heading into halftime.
Long Beach Wilson came out of the gates on fire in the third, scoring a pair of goals in the opening three minutes of the period to cut the San Marcos lead down to 7-6.
That run prompted Sukavivatanachai to take a timeout to regroup his squad, and it proved successful as the Royals’ defense buckled down and kept the score there heading into the fourth.
“Will Stuart did a good job, once he got into foul trouble we kind of felt it in the third quarter when they started catching up,” Sukavivatanachai said.
The fourth quarter was a defensive slugfest, as both sides had chances to alter the scoreboard but were consistently turned away by the opposition defenders.
With 2:13 left in the game, Long Beach Wilson drew a penalty shot and had a chance to score the equalizer.
However, Rich came through for the Royals and turned the 1-on-1 shot away to maintain the one-goal lead, which held until the final buzzer.
“Sam Rich really stepped up, he was legit today, player of the game right there for sure,” Sukavivatanachai said. “I’m seeing him become more of a leader here, he’s been very vocal, he’s pretty much the only voice you hear the entire game.
“We’re really stoked on him and really excited about the potential he has for this season.”
San Marcos (1-0) will look to continue its strong start to the 2024 season at the Long Beach Poly Tournament next weekend.
“We have a lot of versatility and speed, we’re very dynamic on offense,” Sukavivatanachai said of his team this year. “We graduated only two seniors last year so a lot of these kids are from that group last year so we’re super excited to see what they can bring offensively.”