Santa Barbara had a tying goal disallowed in the final seconds of regulation and missed a chance to reach the semifinals at the Newport Holiday Cup girls water polo tournament on Thursday.
The Dons fell 5-4 to Laguna Beach in their second game of the day. Charlotte Hendrix scored what would have been the tying goal with two seconds left in regulation and one second left on the shot clock. Officials, however, ruled the game clock was started too early and nullified the play.
On the replay, the Dons were unable to get off a shot as Laguna packed its defense around the goal.
“It would have been nice to go overtime with them,” Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh said. “But we didn’t do enough offensively to win the game. We’ll learn from it.”
The Dons play Santa Margarita in the fifth-place semifinals.
