PHOTOS: Northwood rally comes up short as Santa Barbara holds on 10-9 in semifinals

Max Abravanel of Northwood takes a shot in Wednesday’s semifinals. (Photos courtesy Michael An, For OC Sports Zone)

Northwood High’s boys water polo team staged a furious comeback in the fourth quarter Wednesday afternoon in the CIF Division 3 semifinals against Santa Barbara.

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But the Timberwolves fell one goal shy of a comeback and lost to the Dons 10-9 at the William Woollett Aquatics Complex. Northwood, competing in the semifinals for the first time since 2016, was trying to advance to the championship game for the third time in school history and bring home the first CIF title.

“It’s definitely a bummer, but we knew going in as a number six seed, we weren’t expected to make it to semifinals,” said Northwood Coach Kyle Kim-E.

“So we knew whether we won or lost, we had a successful season and what I’m really proud about is we went down by six goals going into the fourth period and these guys really rallied and gave it absolutely everything they had left in order to get back to that 10-9 finish.”

Santa Barbara appeared to be in control with a 10-4 lead after three quarters. But Northwood rattled off five consecutive goals, including a score by Max Abravanel with 1:56 left to close the gap to 10-9.

Northwood had one final possession with 41 seconds left but Santa Barbara was able to apply defensive pressure and steal the ball as time ran out.

“We were doing everything we needed to, we were just making slightly off passes and I don’t know if it was nerves, but I thought we were really prepared and glad we could showcase that in the final quarter,” Kim-E said.

Santa Barbara (25-9) jumped out to a 5-2 lead after one quarter and held a 6-4 lead at halftime before outscoring Northwood 4-0 in the third quarter. The Dons were led by Dylan Fogg, who scored five goals and Adam Coffin, who had three goals.

Abravanel and another senior Chris Pukszta, who were on the last Northwood team that reached the semifinals, had set a goal of reaching the finals. Abravanel led Northwood with three goals while Pukszta and Leo Giessmann had two goals each. Josh Sellway and Cameron An also had goals for Northwood (23-9).

Abravanel said he was proud of the squad’s effort.

“We came out slow,” Abravanel said. “We’re not a team that is going to give up easily. We’re really good at persevering at all the adversity we go through. The second and fourth quarter I think we played amazing water polo. We got within one (in the second quarter) and then got down by six going into the fourth and came all the way within one.

“I’m proud of the team. We’ve been through so much this year. If we were going to go out on a loss, that’s the way to do it. Go out strong and play the best quarter of water polo I think we’ve played all year and finish out.

“It’s never over, this team is going to stay with me forever and I have a special bond with all these guys and it was just a fun year.”

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