Sports
St. Lucy's Sinks South Pasadena 16-8, Advances to Final
Victory breaks a dry spell where St. Lucy's were eliminated from the playoffs in the semi-final round the past three years.
IRVINE – The St. Lucy’s Girls’ water polo team punched its ticket to the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship game by virtue of a 16-8 victory over the South Pasadena Tigers Wednesday afternoon at the William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Center. The victory broke a dry spell where St. Lucy’s has been eliminated from the playoffs in the semi-finals the past three years.
“I’m really happy with the result,” St. Lucy’s coach Jeff Rach said. “It’s nice to finally get the monkey off our back (of losing in the semi-finals the past three years.)”
Rach attributed being more confident, having more seasoned players, better team unity and better team speed as factors to his team’s ability to finally break the dry spell.
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“If Emily Donohoe does what she does, and if we continue to play great team defense we will do just fine,” Rach said.
All Donohoe did was score five goals, including the first two of the game and one more in the third quarter to put the game away at 12-7.
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Sabrina Kaefer also scored five goals for St. Lucy’s. Cambria Shockley tallied three goals, while Hannah Lancaster added two goals and Brittney Seman added a goal.
Donohoe opened the game with a goal 15 seconds into the game. Tyler Brown then answered with a goal of her own 25 seconds later. St. Lucy’s will break the game open in the first quarter, going to a 5-1 lead before Brown would once again score to close the gap at 5-2.
Brown would finish the game with three goals. Devin Grab would also score three times, including two consecutive goals early in the second quarter to close the gap to 7-5. She would score half a minute later to keep the deficit at two goals at 8-6, but South Pasadena will get no closer.
Rachel Clause and Anna Lena Hathaway accounted for the other South Pasadena Goals.
“The girls are actually more nervous about this game because they know what’s at stake, and the whole ambiance and everything, “ Rach said. “They’re totally excited and I’m excited for them.”
St. Lucy’s (24-3) will play Murietta Valley, an 11-4 winner over Arroyo Grande Saturday for the CIF Southern Section Division 3 championship. Game time is 5 p.m. at the William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Center.
Rach said that they have played Murietta Valley (20-8) twice and have defeated them both matches, so both teams are very familiar with one another.
