JSerra boys water polo storms past Harvard-Westlake for first South Coast Tournament title
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NEWPORT BEACH — JSerra’s boys water polo team unveiled its possibilities at the South Coast Tournament, the first major event of the season.
The Lions’ prospects appear stronger, more confident and more united after Saturday.
That’s not the best news for the competition but a welcomed development for JSerra, which dispatched Harvard-Westlake 14-7 in the championship at Newport Harbor High to claim the 32-team tournament for the first time.
“I think we got better, and I was happy with the way my boys played in the finals,” JSerra coach Brett Ormsby said. “It was a positive step toward where we ultimately want to go. It’s great to be in a tournament like this. The depth of good teams in this tournament is maybe the best there is.”
Playing the event for the first time under its sixth-year coach, top-seeded JSerra (7-0) outscored its five tournament opponents 88-27, or an average of 18-5 per match.
Ormsby thought the Lions struggled with some focus in a 14-10 victory against Corona del Mar in the semifinals but Orange County’s No. 1 team made a statement against Harvard-Westlake, whom they beat 9-7 on Sept. 6.
JSerra asserted its blend of speed and power.
The Lions posted four counterattack goals — all in the second and third periods — and used the trio of Tyler Anderson, Will Schneider and Colt Bradley to draw exclusions at center.
JSerra earned 11 chances with the extra attacker and converted six times.
The squad also played sound defense, picking up only five exclusions. Third-seeded Harvard-Westake (7-3) went 3 for 5 on the power-play.
“Last week against Harvard, we didn’t think we played the best,” said JSerra senior Ryder Rodd, who tallied three goals, four assists and a steal. “(It was) like ‘Yeah, let’s kind of bring it to them today’, like we’re better than that.”
“This will definitely give us more confidence and momentum,” the U.S. national team attacker added.
The USC committed Dodd sparked a 4-0 surge that helped the Lions seize control in the first half. With four seconds left in the opening period, he scored from the perimeter to give the Lions a 3-2 lead.
End of 1st: Ryder Dodd w/ late strike and JSerra leads Harvard 3-2 @ocvarsity pic.twitter.com/CmQ7b979uk
— Dan Albano (@ocvarsityguy) September 16, 2023
Dodd’s powerful shot might have been on Harvard-Westlake’s mind early in the second period when it appeared to be excluded for interfering with his direct throw/shot. Cal commit Maddox Arlett capitalized with a power-play goal to push the lead to 4-2.
Bode Brinkema, another USC commit, followed about a minute later with a counterattack strike off a save by goalie Joey Kent (seven saves).
Schneider, a Stanford commit, then capped the run with another counterattack goal off an assist from Brinkema. JSerra led 6-2 with 4:35 left in the second period and opened its lead from there.
Schneider, in arguably his best match of the young season, finished with four goals as all six of JSerra’s starting field players scored.
Dodd and Brinkema each had three goals while Princeton commit Tas Palcza netted two. Anderson and Arlett tallied one apiece.
JSerra, with its balanced scoring, seemed to declare that it will make opponents pay for focusing on Dodd.
“That’s one of the biggest things for us as a team,” Schneider said. “Not to just be a team of talented individuals but be a talented team with talented individuals in the team. That’s been the biggest step we’ve had to make.
“I think it’s coming together,” the senior added. “We have way more progress to go. … We have so many guys who can step up on any given day that you can’t really focus on one guy.”
In the third-place match:
Newport Harbor 11, Corona del Mar 8: UCLA commit Peter Castillo scored five goals and drew at least seven exclusions to lead the No. 2 seeded Sailors (7-1) past their Back Bay rival.
The senior contributed to a 4-0 run to open the second period that gave the Sailors a 5-2 lead. He scored the first two goals of the third period to help Newport Harbor open a commanding 9-3 advantage.
Kai Kaneko, a Mater Dei transfer, scored twice in Newport Harbor’s 6-1 second period, including a shot from three-quarters of the length of the pool at the buzzer.
“We had a disappointing semifinal so this was a good bounce-back for us,” said Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair, whose team fell to Harvard-Westlake 12-9.
“We’ve got a combination of some youth and some experience, but some talented youth. So it’s just getting them up to speed and understanding the expectations of how to play every game. … The semifinals was a learning experience.”
Newport Harbor played the three-day tournament without defender Gavin Appeldorn (eye) and attacker Connor Ohl (sitout period for transfers).
Junior Jackson Harlan scored five goals for No. 5 seed Corona del Mar (9-3).