Santa Barbara High’s boys water polo team has advanced to the semifinals of the CIF-ss Ford Championships after defeating Royal 12-6 in Saturday’s quarterfinal match.
The second-seeded Dons will travel to Irvine on Wednesday to face Laguna Beach with a spot in the CIF championship match on the line.
“We were just really good defensively today,” said Santa Barbara head coach Mark Walsh.
Cage protector Gio Goggia drew praise from his coach, who also mentioned three field blocks from Evan Robertson and three steals each from Skyler Matthews and Cristian Bridley.
On offense, nine different players scored and none had more than two. Robertson and Matthews added two goals and three assists to their defensive effort.
Royal stayed with Santa Barbara through the first period. The scoreboard read 1-1 after seven minutes. From there, Santa Barbara took off on a 7-1 run that made the difference in the match.
The Dons go into the semifinal match with Laguna having won five straight matches.
