Boys water polo: Archie Williams defense turns tables on Redwood

In the heat of the day in Larkspur, Haakan Lacy could enjoy the afternoon in the pool. The Peregrine Falcons senior goalie stayed cool under intense fire as the Archie Williams boys water polo team ended Redwood’s undefeated run through the MCAL.

“It’s always a big rivalry game with Redwood,” said Lacy, a three-year varsity starter for the Falcons, who defeated rival Redwood 10-8 on Thursday. “In my mind there were a lot of nerves, especially with the loss to Redwood last year.”

Redwood swept Archie Williams in three meetings last season, including a 9-6 victory over the Peregrine Falcons in a first-round tilt in the 2022-23 North Coast Section Open Division tournament.

“It’s always good to beat Redwood,” Archie Williams head coach Matt Swanson said.

The Giants (9-7, 5-1 MCAL) still hold a tiebreaker in the playoff race and lead Tam (10-2, 4-1) and Archie Williams (9-4, 4-1). Terra Linda, Novato and Marin Academy are duking it out for the fourth berth in the MCAL playoffs, which are scheduled to begin Oct. 25.

Jake Carrera led the Peregrine Falcons with three goals, all in the second half to secure Archie Williams’ victory. Hayden Long and Nate Greenberg each scored twice for the Peregrine Falcons, with Greenberg scoring the game’s opening goal. Archie Williams also got goals from Whit Flake, Nolan Anderson and Max Guana.

Redwood took the early lead in a low-scoring first period, then stepped on the gas in the second period for a 6-4 halftime lead. But Archie Williams hung around, never trailing by more than two goals.

Andrew Wallace spurred the Giants’ attack with three goals. Theo Eschliman and Ossie Joplin scored two goals each for Redwood, which also got a second-period goal from Sawyer Goldberg.

“As our team has done all season, we came together to play our best,” said Lacy, who finished with 15 saves. “We were down by two early in the first half, but I felt like we always had a chance.”

Lacy, widely considered by MCAL coaches to be the best goalkeeper in the county this season, gave the Falcons that chance. Lacy loomed large in net and was athletic enough to cover the area from post to post. The Falcons defense shut the door on the Giants, who scored only twice in the entire second half. Redwood shots kept going wide or high, or into Lacy’s hands.

“All credit to Archie Williams,” Redwood head coach Rudy Kardos said. “We didn’t play the way we wanted to. we didn’t execute on our offensive plan. … In the third quarter, you started to see the momentum shift. Suddenly they were hitting everything.”

Back-to-back goals by the Falcons’ Carrera and Long closed out the third-period scoring with the game suddenly tied 7-7.

“We played a great second half,” Swanson said. “That was the best defensive game this season. This is the game we needed from Lacy.”

Carrera scored twice in the span of about a minute in the fourth period to give the Peregrine Falcons their first lead since the opening minutes of the game. He muscled a shot from 5 meters out past Redwood goalie Will Rauzi for the go-ahead goal. With play getting more physical, Carrera then followed with another cannon shot, this time to Rauzi’s left, for a 9-7 lead.

With three minutes left on the clock, Redwood rallied its offense, eventually breaking through with Eschliman’s near-side goal to cut the gap to just one goal. The Falcons’ Anderson responded with a goal to the left side as the shot clock expired.

The Peregrine Falcons’ defense stymied the Giants for the final 90 seconds and, when the final buzzer sounded, they finally found redemption nearly a year after their last meeting with the Giants.