ROUNDUP : Royal Staves Off Marina in Water Polo Quarterfinal

Royal High stopped Marina on three consecutive man-advantage situations in the fourth quarter Wednesday to record an 11-10 victory in a Southern Section Division II quarterfinal water polo match at Golden West College.

“We had our opportunities,” Marina Coach Dave Pickford said. “But I’m impressed our guys came back. . . . A lot of teams would have said, ‘Well, we had a nice season,’ and quit.”

Indeed, Marina (19-11) spotted Royal a 9-5 first-half lead. Luke Frazier spearheaded the Highlander attack with four goals. But the Vikings quieted the vociferous Royal fans with four unanswered third-quarter goals.

Then, 1 minute 10 seconds into the fourth quarter, Matt Braun scored his third goal to give Marina its first lead since 1-0. But 14 seconds later, Royal’s Jack Kocur scored to make it 10-10.

Royal (27-1) then got the winning goal with 3:51 left when Frazier tipped in a centering pass from Greg Galloway.

Royal’s victory was sealed when the Vikings’ Jon Kenyon was called for an offensive foul with 19 seconds remaining after the Vikings failed on their three man-advantage situations.