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The girls water polo showdown that many expected last weekend will surface this weekend in another championship format.
Mater Dei and Orange Lutheran each won their respective Division I semifinal matches Thursday in the CIF Southern California Regional to advance to Saturday’s 2 p.m. championship at Long Beach City College.
The Monarchs held off Newport Harbor 10-8 at Costa Mesa High while Orange Lutheran handled CIF-SS Open Division champion and host Oaks Christian 12-2.
Last week in the CIF-SS Open Division semifinals, top-ranked Mater Dei was stunned in overtime by visiting Oaks Christian. Orange Lutheran, the two-time defending Open Division champion, was upset in double sudden-death overtime by Newport Harbor.
On Feb. 22, Oaks Christian defeated Newport Harbor 7-5 in the section final.
On Thursday, Mater Dei (26-4) scored the first five goals and led by as many as six in never trailing against Newport Harbor (25-7).
After trailing 8-4 at halftime, the Sailors continued to chip away at their deficit in the second half and had a chance to make it a one-goal game in the final minute of regulation. But with 50 seconds left, Newport Harbor turned the ball for a stalling violation in their backcourt.
The Sailors held Mater Dei scoreless in the fourth period, which made the Monarchs’ buzzer-beating goal to close the third period loom significant. Mater Dei executed a 7 on 6 attack with sharp-shooter Kirra Pantaleon — who missed most of the third with two fouls — as the goalie in the field. Riley Johnson scored to give the Monarchs a 10-6 lead going to the fourth quarter.
Mater Dei went 4 for the 7 on the traditional, power play while Newport Harbor finished 1 for 5.
Both goalies played well. Mater Dei’s Sienna Sorensen had nine saves, including one against a 6 on 4 power play in the opening period. Newport Harbor’s Lydia Soderberg made eight saves.
U.S. national team member Allison Cohen had four goals and five assists and Kyla Pranajaya made 11 saves to lead Orange Lutheran (26-4) in its semifinal. The Lancers finished 4-0 against Oaks Christian this winter.
During the regular season, Mater Dei defeated Orange Lutheran in three of the teams’ four matches. The Lancers won the Trinity League showdown for the league title.
The other regional finals on Saturday at Long Beach City College will pit Clairemont-Valhalla in Division II at 12:30 p.m. and Cathedral Catholic-Birmingham in Division III at 11 a.m.
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