Santa Barbara High scored nine unanswered goals to erase a 6-2 deficit and beat Dos Pueblos 11-6 in the 15th place game of the Santa Barbara Invitational Water Polo Tournament at the Elings Aquatic Center on Saturday.
The championship pit powerhouses Mater Dei and Loyola against each other. Loyola opened an early lead and held on for the victory, 11-7, at the Santa Barbara High pool.
Huntington Beach edged Woodbridge for third place,10-9, and Santa Margarita took third with a 12-7 win over Palos Verdes.
After giving up the first two goals of the game, Dos Pueblos buckled down on defense, got good play for goalie Aiden Trager and scored six straight over three periods to take a 6-2 lead.
Griffin Pieretti, the twin brother of Wyatt, scored to start Santa Barbara’s comeback in the third period and Neeno McDonald followed with a goal to cut the deficit to 6-4.
Adam Kubinyi converted on a power play with eight seconds left in the period to make it a one-goal game.
Jordan Hayes delivered the tying goal on a spin move at 6:18 of the fourth period and Adam Coffin got inside DP’s defense and scored the go-ahead goal at the 5:53 mark.
Dos Pueblos got a couple of good looks at goal but was denied by Pieretti, who switched off playing goalie with Hunter Brownell.
Kubinyi scored again at the 3:22 mark to put the Dons up by two, and the scoring streak continued with two goals from Chase Raisin and another from Ryan Drake.
Kubinyi and Raisin led seven Dons in the scoring column with three goals each. Raisin added three steals and Pieretti made eight saves.
Sammy Arshadi and Rex Goodener each scored two goals for Dos Pueblos.
Earlier Saturday, Santa Barbara lost 11-8 against Los Osos, and Dos Pueblos was edged by Riverside Poly, 11-10.
DP coach Bryan Snyder said his team is not playing to its potential on defense. “We can do a better job of helping each other out defensively in the half-court setting and play better team defense overall.
“Only when our defense improves will be take the next step as a team.”
The Chargers had a 7-4 lead at halftime against Riverside Poly.
Ethan Parrish had five goals, Goodner scored four,and Alex Reilly had five assists in the Poly game.
Santa Barbara was outscored 5-1 in the fourth quarter against Los Osos. Raisin had the first four goals for the Dons, giving them a 4-3 lead in the second period. Coffin had 2 goals, Jordan Hayes had a goal and earned 3 ejections and Bronson Blix had l goal, 1 assist, and 2 steals
Dos Pueblos (3-4) is back in action Saturday at home against La Serna. Santa Barbara (4-3) hosts Righetti on Thursday.
— Noozhawk Sports Editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk on Twitter: @noozhawk, @NoozhawkNews and @NoozhawkBiz. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.