Brittny Hummel and the San Marcos girls water polo team executed their final play to perfection, and were rewarded with Hummel’s game-winning strike that lifted the Royals to a 9-8 CIF Wild Card victory at Milliken on Tuesday.
Hummel scored San Marcos’ final two goals – the last with 27 seconds left – that kept the Royals one step ahead of Milliken, which erased a 7-5 deficit to start the quarter and matched San Marcos again at 8-8 thanks to a goal with two minutes and six seconds remaining.
Jade Wentz-Fitzgerald led San Marcos (16-14) in scoring with four goals and was key in boosting the Royals to a 5-1 lead in the second quarter.
But head coach Brian Roth wasn’t surprised that Milliken was able to rally in the second half because an ejection surplus that favored the Royals in the first half swung in their opponents direction and Wentz-Fitzgerald fouled out with 90 seconds left in the third quarter.
The victory was the Royals’ first playoff win of the decade.
“Everyone played a great game,” reported Roth, whose team had practice with close games by playing in two straight one-goal matches against Ventura to end the regular season. “We did a good job of holding our composure.”
Los Alamitos awaits San Marcos for a Wednesday game in Orange County.
SAN MARCOS 9, MILLIKEN 8
San Marcos 2 3 2 2 – 9
Milliken 1 1 3 3 – 8
Goal scorers – SM Wentz-Fitzgerald 4, Hummel 3, Kirker 1, Sukavivatanachai 1. M – Matherson 4, Durham 2, Salas 1, Christine M. 1.
Goalie Saves – SM Lovett 6
Record – SM 16-14
