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Metro Conference girls water polo championships set: Bonita Vista vs. Chula Vista

By Phillip Brents

CHULA VISTA, Jan. 29, 2002 --  The Metro Conference will determine its automatic entry into the 2001-2002 San Diego Section girls water polo playoffs Jan. 30 when top-seeded Bonita Vista battles second-seeded Chula Vista in the championship finals of this year’s conference tournament at the Southwestern College pool. The title game is scheduled for 5:30 p.m., preceded by the third-place game pitting third-seeded Hilltop and fourth-seeded Mar Vista at 4 p.m.

The tournament champion will advance to the division playoffs with remaining teams eligible for at-large selection. Bonita Vista is the official conference champion by virtue of its perfect 6-0 first-round league record. However, the Barons defeated Chula Vista by just a single goal, 11-10, for the right to hang this year’s championship banner and the outcome of the title match promises to be just as thrilling.

Bonita Vista defeated Mar Vista, 11-0, in semifinal action on Jan. 26.

Chula Vista earned the second seed in this year’s Metro tournament based on its 5-1 first-round record. Hilltop defeated Mar Vista, 7-6, on Jan. 25 to finish with a 4-2 first-round mark to grab the third seed ahead of the Mariners (3-3). Rounding out the tournament field were fifth-seeded Eastlake (2-4), sixth-seeded Montgomery (1-5) and seventh-seeded Southwest (0-6).

The Spartans geared up for this year’s conference tournament by placing second at the recent El Cajon-El Capitan tournament. The Barons finished the season ranked eighth among Division I teams, Chula Vista 10th.

Jessica Street scored the game-winner in Hilltop’s 7-6 victory against Mar Vista with 32 seconds remaining in regulation time. The Mariners had tied the game just 10 seconds earlier when Julie Hatfield had scored her second goal of the game to cap an unanswered run of three goals by Mar Vista. The game-winner was Street’s third goal of the game.

The Lancers had opened a 4-0 lead in the contest before the Mariners closed the gap to 4-3 on goals by Jane Weibel, Melissa Madigan and Hatfield. Hilltop had jumped to its early advantage on goals by Corie Koch, two by Street, and another by Rachel Norton.

Christy Fox scored the jump goal in the final period to put the Lancers up 5-3 and Hilltop added another goal to lead 6-3 before Mar Vista engineered its dramatic comeback. Martiza Johnson scored with 5:20 to play to narrow the Mariners’ deficit to 6-4 and followed with a breakaway goal to cut the score to 6-5.

Hilltop goalie Monica Felix finished the game with eight saves. Mar Vista’s Nissa Cooley was credited with seven saves.

McCoy is hoping her team is peaking at the right time of the season. "The team came together the second half of the season. We’re a young team. It took a while for them to pick up their swimming and water polo skills," McCoy said.

Conversely, Mar Vista coach Chip Case is hoping his team can regain its momentum. The Mariners closed out first-round play with three victories in their final four games after being unable to practice for a month because of a shutdown of the campus pool. In lieu of getting in the water, the team kept in condition by playing soccer and basketball and taking beach runs.

"These girls have been together for a while, three to four years. They’re have a lot more experience. I didn’t have to stress a lot of fundamentals as I did with our boys team that was much less experienced," Case said. "(But) it’s hard to practice execution without being in the pool. We’re hoping to see them (Hilltop) again in the tournament."

Hilltop’s league victories have come against Southwest (12-1), Montgomery (18-3), Eastlake (15-2) and Mar Vista (7-6) while losses have come against Bonita Vista (15-0) and Chula Vista (18-4).

Mar Vista defeated Southwest 15-2 and Montgomery 14-4 prior to meeting Hilltop and edged Eastlake by an 8-6 score.

Game #1: Chula Vista (2) vs. Southwest (7), 9 a.m.

Game #2: Hilltop (3) vs. Montgomery (6), 10 a.m.

Game #3: Mar Vista (4) vs. Eastlake (5), 11 a.m.

Game #4: Chula Vista-Southwest loser vs. Hilltop-Montgomery loser, noon.

Game #5: Chula Vista-Southwest winner vs. Hilltop-Montgomery winner, 1 p.m.

Game #6: Mar Vista-Eastlake loser vs. winner Game #4, 2 p.m.

Game #7: Mar Vista-Eastlake winner vs. Bonita Vista (1), 3 p.m.

Game #8: Mar Vista-Eastlake loser vs. loser Game #4.

Third-place game: 4 p.m. (loser Game #7 vs. loser Game #5)

Championship game: 5:30 p.m. (winner Game #7 vs. winner Game #5)