The San Marcos girls water polo team was on the wrong side of a one-goal overtime loss on Tuesday afternoon, dropping a Channel League game to Ventura 13-12.
Jade Fitzgerald led the Royals with five goals and Flo Chardon added three more, but both received major ejections during the overtime periods, leaving San Marcos without any players on its bench.
“We were doing fine until that point,” explained Royals head coach Brian Roth, noting that San Marcos still nearly won the game but couldn’t score on its final possession like Ventura did.
San Marcos held a 9-6 lead after three quarters and still had a three-goal lead at 10-7 with under four minutes to play. But Ventura, behind Stanford-bound Alexis Lee’s four goals, mounted a late comeback to send it to OT.
The Royals jumped out in front again in overtime, gaining a 12-11 lead on goals from Fitzgerald and Parinda Sukavivatanachai. Then the ejections occurred one after the other – Chardon’s resulting in a game-tying five meter shot – and momentum swung in Ventura’s favor.
Roth had good things to say about Brittny Hummel, who scored a goal and drew fouls that resulted in two five-meter penalty shots.
But the coach was most pleased with his team’s effort on the defensive end, where they got nine steals from Chardon and Zoe Kirker alone.
The Royals (9-11, 1-4) are competing in the Bonita Tournament starting with a Thursday matchup against Arroyo Valley.
San Marcos gets another shot at the Cougars on Senior Day in February.
VENTURA 13, SAN MARCOS 12
San Marcos 5 1 3 1 2 0 – 12
Ventura 3 1 2 4 1 2 – 13
SM – Fitzgerald 5, Chardon 3, Sukavivatanachai 2, Koper 1, Hummel. V – Lee 4, Argend 2, Bartosh 2, Montague 2, Hanson 1, Mann 1. Goalie Saves – Lovett 8.
