PHOTOS: Damien ends Portola’s hopes for first CIF water polo championship

Portola players and coaches, including head coach Kate Avery and assistant coaches Mark Alvarado and Anthony Coppin with the second place plaque. (Photos courtesy Jim Tomlin, For OC Sports Zone).

Portola’s High School’s top-seeded boys water polo team was hoping to cap a memorable season with a CIF Division 3 title Saturday morning.

But No. 2-seeded Damien took over in the second quarter and went on to defeat the Bulldogs 18-11 in the championship match at the William Woollett Aquatics Complex.

It was the first time in the finals for Portola, which won its first Pacific Coast League title after advancing to the semifinals in Division 4 last season.

“It wasn’t our best, we definitely played way better Wednesday (in the semifinals),” Portola Coach Kate Avery said after the match. “But they were fighting until the last minute. At the beginning of every quarter, we were saying, ‘we can still do this, we can still do this.’

“Damien is a good team, we knew it was going to be tough and it was going to be point for point and I think they just got the best of us today.”

To see the slide show, click on the first photo:

Portola (24-5) was led by Ryder Tonkovich and Luke Porter, who scored three goals each and Ryan Aminloo, who had two goals.

Damien (30-4) was led by Collin White, who had seven goals, four coming on penalty shots. Brady Kopperud had four goals and Zander Montoya three goals to lead the Spartans.

The score was tight in the first quarter with Damien holding a 4-3 lead going into the second quarter. But Damien outscored Portola 6-3 in the second stanza to take a 10-6 lead at halftime and control of the match.

“I think that’s kind of what got them on that momentum,” Avery said. “We just couldn’t shut that momentum down.”

Damien had a six-goal lead late in the third quarter but Tonkovich scored two goals in the final 30 seconds of the quarter to give Portola hope going into the fourth quarter.

But Damien dominated the fourth quarter to seal the win.

“I thought we could have played better, but for today we played as best we could and we put our hearts into it and really wanted it, Damien played better so they got the win and they deserved it,” said Porter, Portola’s sophomore two-meter player.

“They’re a physical team and our team isn’t as physical. They’re also just really smart about how they played and we made mistakes that they capitalized and scored on them.

“Our season was good, we had three goals for our team. It was to get an auto bid to CIF (playoffs) and win league and win CIF and for the first time in Portola’s history for boys water polo we won league and we got an automatic bid so we completed two of our goals but we missed this one.”

Avery, the coach, said the future looks bright.

“We’re returning almost everyone,” Avery said. “The biggest hit will probably be Grant (Kramer) our goalie, and we have a couple guys coming up; otherwise we have a young roster, Liam (McCuane, a senior) plays a lot too so that will be tough. But we will probably move up to D2 so it will be even more of a grind, but we’re just happy to have been here, given everything.

“Obviously, I’m bummed about the loss right now because I’m a very competitive person and I don’t like losing but bigger picture, I’m so proud of them. They worked their butts off this season and even if it wasn’t the outcome they wanted, we’re bringing home a plaque, that’s awesome.”

Portola Athletic Director Peter Abe, also the Bulldogs head football coach, congratulated Avery and the players after the match for their efforts this season.

–—Tim Burt, OC Sports Zone; timburt@ocsportszone.com