It was a hotly contested and high-level battle between boys water polo heavyweights in the final of the Santa Barbara Invitational on a hot Saturday afternoon.
Defending CIF Division 1 champion Harvard-Westlake scored consecutive goals in the last three minutes to open up a three-goal lead and held off Mater Dei, 10-8, to take home the title and end the Monarchs’ three-year tournament reign.
After Mater Dei’s Nick Silvers buried a shot to make it 8-7, Harvard-Westlake center Ben Hallock pump faked a few times before firing an outside shot past Monarchs goalkeeper Jon Van De Velde with 3:07 left.
The Wolverines then came up with a huge defensive play as Luke Henriksson stole the ball on Mater Dei’s next possession. They would convert the turnover into beautiful goal-scoring play on a 6 on 5. Hallock fed Duncan Froomer on the right and the junior powered a shot past Van De Velde for a 10-7 lead with 2:10 to play.
“That six on five at the end was huge for us,” said Harvard Westlake coach Brian Flacks.
Luke Wyatt scored for Mater Dei before Harvard Westlake ran out the clock.
Harvard-Westlake (6-0) had a balanced attack with four players scoring two goals: Evan Rosenfeld, Hallock, Froomer and Morio Saito. Mater Dei (4-1) was led by Jackson Seybold with four goals.
“For this time of year, it’s a high-level game,” Mater Dei coach and Dos Pueblos High alum Chris Segesman said. “They just pulled it out at the end. They executed when they had to and we didn’t.”
Segesman said the power plays made the difference. “In the fourth quarter they put away their 6 on 5s and we didn’t. We got to get much better at that and on 5 on 6 and we’ll be OK.”
Last year, Harvard-Westlake ended Mater Dei’s three-year run as CIF Division 1 champion and five-year overall streak. The Wolverines are No. 1 in the preseason poll and Mater Dei is second.
The game was tight from the start. Harvard-Westlake broke a 3-3 tie in the second period with consecutive goals from Felix Brozyna-Vilim and Morio Saito. Brozyna-Vilim scored off a long pass from goalie Anthony Ridgley and Saito converted on a 6-on-5 power play.
Mater Dei got one goal back when Jackson Seybold scored on a power player. Connor Tullerme had a good chance to tie the score for the Monarchs but he was denied by Ridgley.
Ridgley made another big save on Seybold in the third period. The Wolverines went up 6-4 on a power play goal by Henriksson.
“It was a great test early in the season to see where we stand and what we need to work on,” Flacks said. “I thought we did a nice job showing a lot of maturity and experience throughout the game. We went up early and we always maintained that lead every time they scored.”
He added: “It was great competitive game, and I’m sure we’ll have a whole bunch this year.”
In the semifinals, Harvard-Westlake topped third-ranked Loyola while Mater Dei beat Laguna Beach
