Santa Barbara High had lost to Ventura’s boys water polo team 20-5 over the summer.
“I didn’t think we had much of a chance,” said Dons coach Mark Walsh after Tuesday’s home game against the Cougars. “I thought we’d pretty much have to play a perfect game to beat them.”
The Dons weren’t perfect, but they still managed to give Ventura a big scare before falling 10-8 in overtime.
Santa Barbara's Sam Foley fights to get off a shot.
Brendan Kerwin-McElroy led the Dons with four goals, none bigger than a missile from the right side with 1:22 left in regulation to tie things up. The senior patiently held the ball for about 10 seconds before pulling the trigger and rifling it past the Ventura defender and goalie.
Trailing 10-8 with 1:18 left in overtime, the Dons had a chance to cut the lead in half with a penalty shot. Kerwin-McElroy had converted his previous two penalty shots in the game, but Cougar goalie Josh Fankhauser made a beautiful stop — one of 16 on the match.
“When you’re in a close game like that it’s such a stressful situation, and I guess it just got to me… He made a really good play. He’s a good goalie,” said the Dons’ co-captain.
Santa Barbara goalie James Stilwell had 10 blocks in the cage, but Ventura junior Josh Tice proved hard to stop throughout the afternoon. The 6-6, 225-pound bruiser tied Kerwin-McElroy with four goals of his own.
Brendan Kerwin-McElroy scored four times for the Dons on Tuesday against Ventura.
Tice put the Cougars on the board first with 4:53 left in the first quarter, and Clint Howard made it 2-0 three minutes later. Kerwin-McElroy provided the Dons’ first response by burying a penalty shot in the final minute of the period.
Both teams were struggling to find good looks early on in the game, and lots of shots were also bouncing off of the crossbar. Ventura’s Devin Mefford, however, received a beautiful pass for an open look with 3:16 left in the first half to put the visitors up 3-1. Kerwin-McElroy made a great field block in the final moments of the half to prevent the lead from growing.
Mefford made a steal right in front of Stilwell and put away an easy lob shot to give Ventura a 4-1 lead with 3:37 to go in the third. The Dons fired back, however, when Kerwin-McElroy dropped a long assist across the pool to Enzo Wolfe, who buried a shot from close in with 2:47 to go. Stilwell then fired a full-court assist to Evan Schu 40 seconds later that pulled the Dons within one at 4-3.
The first ejection of the game didn’t occur until just one minute remained in the third, and Ventura capitalized on the 6-on-5 when Tice scored off of an assist by Brad Miller.
Stilwell made three stops in the opening moments of the fourth quarter and Wolfe nabbed a steal followed by a goal to make it 5-4. Tice scored again soon after, but Kerwin-McElroy closed the gap once again on an assist from Schu with 3:50 left. The teams then traded goals on a close-range shot from Befford and Kerwin-McElroy’s second penalty shot. He put away the equalizer two minutes later.
Ventura scored 25 seconds into the overtime period. Mark Davis scored a tying goal 60 seconds later to make it 8-8, but the Cougars pulled away on sores by Tice and Howard.
“I think we played really well, but we just had some missed opportunities,” said Kerwin-McElroy.
Walsh said that a defensive mistake kept the Dons from taking an early lead.
“I was encouraged, but I thought we could have been up in the first quarter,” he said.
Santa Barbara (10-6, 1-1 Channel League) plays at Palos Verdes on Thursday.
VENTURA 10, SANTA BARBARA 8, OT
Ventura…2 1 2 2 3 — 10
Santa Barbara…1 0 2 4 1 — 8
Goals — V: Tice 4, Howard 2, Mefford 3, Flint 1. SB: Kerwin-McElroy 4, Wolfe 2, Schu 1, Davis 1.
Saves — V: Fankhauser 16. SB: Stilwell 10.
