Alec Linz winds up for a penalty shot in the Dons' 9-7 win.
Alec Linz tossed in four second-half goals for the Santa Barbara boys water polo team on Tuesday, giving the Dons a huge offensive boost in a 9-7 victory over a powerful Palos Verdes team.
Palos Verdes won a CIF championship last year in Division IV and showed that they are dangerous again this year by winning the Weisz Cup at El Dorado High School over the weekend. The Sea Kings are currently the No. 2 team in Division III.
It was the home opener for Santa Barbara, which improves to 1-1 on the season.
“In the third quarter we were able to come out and get a couple of goals on them that helped us keep momentum,” Linz said, explaining how the Dons were able to turn a 2-2 halftime tie into the 9-7 victory.
Santa Barbara never trailed in the second half. The Dons drew an ejection on their first possession and capitalized when Mark Davis found Linz for his first goal. Less than two minutes later, Enzo Wolfe drew a penalty shot which Linz converted to put the Dons up two.
“Enzo Wolfe made an incredible play on the one where he kicked the ball over his head, tipped it to himself, swam and got the ball and drew a penalty,” said Dons head coach Mark Walsh. “That was incredible. I’ve been around a long time but I’ve never seen anything like that.”
Santa Barbara goalie Sean McGee recorded 11 saves, this one coming in the first half.
Things got tense when Palos Verdes fought back to within one on Ryan Rule’s goal with three minutes and 22 seconds left in the fourth quarter. After a timeout, the Dons maintained composure.
“We stopped a 6-on-5. I thought that was critical and (goalie) Sean McGee did a great job. He made a lot of really good saves,” Walsh said.
Linz, a junior, put Santa Barbara back up two goals with 2:37 on the clock by scoring with two Sea Kings draped on his back. Another penalty shot gave the Dons an 8-5 lead with less than a minute to go.
Walsh liked his team’s work in 6-on-5 situations, which was a weakness in their season-opening loss to Mira Costa. Santa Barbara converted 3-of-6 and shut down the Sea Kings on all but one of theirs.
“That’s all we worked on yesterday for about an hour and a half so I’m glad it paid off,” Walsh joked.
Brian Robinson scored a team-high three goals for Palos Verdes, which also got a pair from Rule.
Davis filled up the stat sheet for Santa Barbara, collecting three assists, three steals, a goal and two ejections drawn. Evan Robertson, Connor McManigal, Skyler Matthews and Nick Johnson also scored for the Dons.
Santa Barbara moves on to matches on Friday and Saturday with Servite and Esperanza, which are both ranked teams.
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SANTA BARBARA 9, PALOS VERDES 7
Palos Verdes 0 2 1 4 – 7
Santa Barbara 2 0 3 4 – 9
PV Goals – Robinson 3, Rule 2, Wann, Najarian
SB Goals – Linz 4, Robertson, Davis, Johnson, McManigal, Matthews
SB Goalie Saves – McGee, 11
Alec Linz is a stud.