Ryan Drake scored with three seconds left in the second half of overtime to give Santa Barbara High’s water polo team a thrilling 11-10 victory at second-seeded Los Osos in the CIF-SS Division 3 quarterfinals on Saturday in Rancho Cucamonga.
The Dons (25-6) advance to Wednesday’s semifinals against Northwood in Irvine. Northwood edged Westlake 6-5 in the quarterfinals.
Santa Barbara’s win avenged an 8-5 loss at Los Osos in last year’s Division 3 semifinals.
Drake scored off an assist from Adam Coffin.and Wyatt Pieretti made his 15th save at the buzzer to seal the win.
Pieretti had back-to-back point-blank saves in the first overtime.
Los Osos stormed back from a 6-1 deficit and sent the game into overtime when Connor Mannion scored in the last second of regulation to make it 9-9.
Chase Raisin gave Santa Barbara the lead on a power-play goal at 1:57 of the first two-minute overtime.
The Dons held the 10-9 lead until Mannion delivered again for Los Osos with 31 seconds left.
The score remained 10-10 through the second extra two-minute period until Coffin got free from his defender and found Drake open on the post for a quick shot and goal.
Santa Barbara got off to a terrific start, opening up a 5-1 lead in the first quarter. Raisin fired in three goal in the quarter.
Dylan Fogg opened the second period with a goal to make it 6-1.
Los Osos caught fire and scored three straight goals. Drake converted on a power play for the Dons to give them a 7-4 lead with 39 seconds left in the first half.
Los Osos drew an ejection and converted with two seconds left to make it 7-5 at halftime.
Manion made it a one-goal game at the 5:19 mark of the third period, but Fogg put the Dons up by two again (8-6) with 1:49 left in the quarter.
Santa Barbara’s defense held the lead until Los Osos got back-to-back goals by Logan Puhl and Travis Berzins to tie the score at 8-8. Berzins’ equalizer came with 31 seconds in regulation.
The seniors made sure the Dons’ season kept going. Raisin led the Dons with four goals and had four drawn ejections and three steals. Fogg scored three goals, had three assists and three steals, and Coffin supplied four asssists, three steals and two earned ejections to go with one goal.
Manion had four goals to lead Los Osos.
— 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.
