Woodbridge boys water polo team clinches share of first PCL title with 13-4 victory over Beckman

Woodbridge’s Solan Kedzie scores one of his four goals Tuesday vs. Beckman. (Tim Burt photo)

Woodbridge boys water polo players have made it no secret that the goal has been securing the school’s first Pacific Coast League title.

Their coach, Matt Campbell, has been hesitant to even mention the possibility, not wanting to jinx his team’s chances.

Tuesday afternoon, Campbell could finally talk about it after the Warriors defeated Beckman 13-4 in a PCL match at Woodbridge, which guaranteed the Warriors at least a share of the crown with two more league matches remaining.

“This clinches a tie for us,” Campbell said. “I think the team felt like they didn’t play real well the last time we played Beckman, so they came out with the idea that they were playing for league (the title) and we want to be able to show the home crowd what we can do against this team rather than what we did the last time.”

Campbell has been the head coach since Woodbridge brought back water polo in 2000. So the league title is very satisfying, he said.

“We started from scratch,” he said. “It’s a big step for the program. The players and I have talked that there is no banner in the gym for water polo and they might be able to make some history and put up the first league championship banner, so they’re excited about that.”

Solan Kedzie had his second consecutive four-goal performance to lead the Warriors. Kedzie also scored four goals in a 10-8 victory over Northwood Thursday. Riley Pittman and Nikola Mirkovic had three goals each and Dylan Patist had two goals.

But there wasn’t a big celebration after the game. The Warriors would like to win the title outright and finish with a perfect league mark with matches coming up against two teams they’ve already defeated, University and Portola.

“I think it was great because it would be the first league title Woodbridge has ever won,” Kedzie said. “I’m a little bit disappointed that we weren’t able to play CdM because I feel like we would have a really good game against them. It’s kind of bittersweet, but hopefully we see them in the CIF (playoffs).”

The Warriors will hold off on a larger celebration, Kedzie said.

“I guess we’re going to wait for the end of league and then go crazy because we want to get that 10-0 (record),” he said.

Ethan Tran scored two goals to lead Beckman, which is battling Northwood for second place in the league.

WOODBRIDGE AND NORTHWOOD BOTH RANKED IN CIF POLLS; SEE EVERY DIVISION

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