Santa Barbara and Laguna Beach will meet for the third time this season in the championship round of a major girls water polo tournament.
The third-ranked Dons advanced to the semifinals of the Irvine Southern California Championships on Friday with a 10-8 win over Foothill. They play Laguna Beach at 11 a.m. on Saturday for the spot in the final.
Makenzy Fowler scored four goals and Charlotte Hendrix scored a goal, had four assists and drew four ejections. Kelsey O’Brien added two goals and two assists against Foothill.
Santa Barbara (18-6) led the whole way, but Foothill did pull within one goal late in the fourth quarter.
“Charlotte drew an ejection and then assisted to her sister Betsy to put us up by two with two minutes to go,” said Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh.
Goalie Maddie Trabucco preserved the victory with fine play in the cage.
This is the second semifinal berth for the Dons in a major tournament. In their own Tournament of Champions last month, they defeated Laguna Beach 8-5 in the quarterfinals.
In December, the Dons lost a 5-4 decision in a controversial finish in a quarterfinal game at the Newport Holiday Cup.
Laguna Beach advanced to the So Cal semifinals by stunning Orange County No. 1 Los Alamitos, 8-7, in sudden-death overtime. Jessie Holechek scored the winning goal for the Breakers.
