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Sports

Sea Queens Come Up Short in Semifinal Loss to Foothill, 11-10

Corona del Mar's last shot in overtime hits crossbar and falls short, sending the Knights on to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship game on Saturday.

It was an evenly-matched contest between two Orange County girls water polo juggernauts, and, in the end, it came down to a matter of inches.

Corona del Mar was eliminated from the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs Wednesday night at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Complex in Irvine, falling 10-9 to Foothill in overtime.

Jessie Porter scored the go-ahead goal for the Lady Knights with 1:40 left in the second overtime period, but following a Foothill exclusion with 28 seconds left, Corona del Mar had a 6-5 player advantage and a chance to tie it up.

Cassidy Papa found herself alone within four meters almost immediately following the whistle, and decided to take the shot then and there.

But the attempt hit the cross bar and fell short of the goal, where Foothill keeper Rachel Noll corralled it.

After calling a timeout, Foothill spread the court and ran out the clock.

"Obviously, it's a tough loss. [We] were ahead or tied for most of the game," Corona del Mar coach Sam Bailey said. "There were a lot of close opportunities. It doesn't come down to any one play. To say that it was that one opportunity, that was the game-changer, is unfair to Cassidy."

The third-seeded Sea Queens took a 5-4 lead into halftime and a 6-5 advantage into the final frame, where they retook the lead at 7-6 with four minutes left on a counter attack goal from sophomore Ally McCormick.

But after Diana Murphy's exclusion, Foothill had the numbers with 55 seconds left. That's when Kelli Boling deadlocked the contest for the sixth time at 7-7.

Pippa Saunders and McCormick scored goals for the Sea Queens in the first overtime period, but Foothill (18-10) held Corona del Mar to only one shot in the second.

"Foothill put the clamps on defense," Bailey said. "They played an outstanding game."

McCormick led the way for the Sea Queens with three goals, while Papa and Saunders finished with two each.

Porter finished with a game-high four goals for Foothill.

At goalkeeper, both sides turned in sterling performances, as Corona del Mar's Alex Musselman racked up 20 saves on 38 Foothill shots, including eight in the fourth quarter, and one on a penalty shot. Meanwhile, Noll finished with 10 stops on 30 Corona del Mar attempts, including a penalty shot block in the third that preserved a 5-5 tie.

"Their defense ultimately came up big," Bailey said. "Their goalie especially. That's the most important position in the game, and [Noll] played an outstanding game."

With the loss, the Pacific Coast League champion Sea Queens finished the season at 20-8.

The Lady Knights, winners of the Century League, now move on to face defending champion and top-seeded Dos Pueblos in the championship match Saturday at 6:30 p.m., again at Woollett.

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