The Santa Barbara boys water polo team lost a tough one on Saturday afternoon at the Villa Park Tournament, squandering a fourth-quarter lead against No. 1 El Toro to lose 9-8 in the semifinals. The Dons, ranked two spots behind El Toro at No. 3, had a 7-6 lead at the end of the third quarter but got outscored 3-1 in the final frame to lose by a single goal. Jason Masho, Ian Gamble and Brandon Cowan each scored three goals and combined for 11 steals between the three of them. Chris … [Read more...]

The San Marcos boys water polo team went 3-for-3 on Saturday at the San Luis Obispo Tournament, picking up victories over Nipomo, Cabrillo and Fresno. Sam Boysel and Travis Johnson led the charge for the Royals. Boysel recorded nine goals in the three matches. Johnson, who picked up 20 saves in his normal position in goal, saw some time in the field and made the most of it by scoring four times.San Marcos defeated Nipomo 7-2, Cabrillo 5-2 and Fresno 8-4. … [Read more...]

Brandon Cowan saved his best for last on Friday, scoring the final three goals for the Santa Barbara boys water polo team in a 9-6 victory over La Cañada on the second day of the Villa Park Tournament.The Dons, ranked No. 3 in Division I, will face top-ranked El Toro in Saturday's semifinal that starts at 4 p.m.The Dons really had to work to for this one. … [Read more...]

San Marcos' boys water polo team suffered a heart-breaking loss at the San Luis Obispo Tournament on Friday, falling to Porterville 8-7 on a last second shot from the Panthers. Royals Mac Gostow and Sam Boysel led the way on offense with two goals apiece.  Gostow accounted for all the Royal offense in the day's first matchup. San Marcos dropped an 11-2 decision to Orange County's Brea Olinda earlier in the day. Gostow now has four goals in two games. … [Read more...]

The Royals got a solid defensive effort from Abel Hamilton but lapsed at times as a team, allowing several clusters of goals in an 11-4 Channel League-opening setback to Buena. San Marcos coach Jeff Ashton gave the Bulldogs credit, saying the Royals had a gameplan and the Bulldogs simply forced them out of it. The Bulldogs raced out to a 4-1 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back.Sam Boysel connected on two of his shots for San Marcos scores. Billy Stevens added a … [Read more...]

Spencer Joy scored five goals, including the game-winner in sudden-death overtime, as the Carpinteria boys water polo team picked up an 11-10 win Wednesday against host Villanova Prep."We kind of went in thinking it would be an easy one, but we wound up in a dogfight," said Warriors coach Rob Locke, who praised the improvement in the Wildcats' program. … [Read more...]

Ian Kistler became an example of just how physical water polo can be on Tuesday, sustaining a concussion from an elbow to the face in Dos Pueblos' 6-5 win at Ventura."He got hit in the upper lip while playing defense and came out for a two-minute break," said coach Chris Parrish. "He went back in and got hit again with an elbow and couldn't remember what he was doing or where he was." … [Read more...]

Santa Barbara High was just a couple of minutes away from beating the top-ranked boys water polo team in Division I.The Dons led Los Alamitos for over 25 minutes in the semifinals of the South Coast Tournament Saturday, but Griffins star Austin Trinkle scored goals with 2:30 and 1:45 to sink the Dons, 4-3. Santa Barbara went on to defeat Foothill 11-10 in the third-place game on a Brandon Cowan goal with 16 seconds left. It was Cowan's third goal of the game. … [Read more...]

The Santa Barbara boys water polo team made history on Friday night by taking out Corona del Mar 10-7 to advance to the South Coast Tournament's semifinals. Coach Mark Walsh has had some great teams, yet none advanced this far in arguably the season's most prestigious and competetive tournament. Walsh's 2006 CIF-champion team lost only three times that year but got beat at the South Coast in the quarters.  "It was our best performance of the year," said Walsh before admitting … [Read more...]