San Marcos edges Oaks Christian to advance to CIF Division 1 Regional Final
Mike Klan
WESTLAKE VILLAGE, Calif. (KEYT) – USC-bound senior Charlotte Raisin scored a game-high 6 goals to lead San Marcos past #1 seed Oaks Christian 11-10 in a CIF Division 1 SoCal Regional semifinal.
The #5 seed Royals will play #2 Mater Dei for the SoCal Girls Water Polo Division 1 Championship on Saturday at Long Beach City College at 2 p.m. The Monarchs edged Newport Harbor 9-7 in the other semifinal.
San Marcos built up a 7-3 lead over the home Lions at halftime behind four first half goals from Raisin.
Oaks Christian scored 4 unanswered goals in the third quarter to tie it at 7 before the Royals closed the quarter with 2 more goals from Raisin to lead 9-7.
Lions star and Stanford-bound Mia Fabros scored from outside to cut the deficit to 9-8 with 5:14 remaining.
Next possession the Royals went back up by two goals as junior Lily Bordofsky had a beautiful outside shot that snuck in the near post and it was 10-8 Royals with 4:49 to play. Bordofsky had 2 goals in the game.
Maryam Maamoun scored with 3:11 left and Lyra Gavazzi tied it at 10 with 2:35 remaining.
The Royals came down the pool and grabbed the lead right back. Michigan-bound senior Sophie Yonker took a pass from Shea Estabrook and Yonker delivered what proved to be the game-winning goal with 2:02 left on the clock. Yonker finished with 2 goals.
The Lions had a chance to tie in the closing seconds but could not convert a 6-on-5 advantage as their shot sailed wide over the goal. Royals goalkeeper Bethany King, a Harvard-commit, had 9 blocks in the game.
Oaks Christian ends their season at 22-7 and back-to-back CIF-Southern Section Open Division champions.
The Royals improve to 28-7 and win or lose on Saturday, the game marks the final one for Chuckie Roth as head coach of the girls program.