Golden West Plays for Water Polo Title

Adriano Marsili scored four goals and Evan McIntosh made five saves as Golden West defeated Merced, 13-3, in the semifinals of the state men’s water polo tournament Saturday at Cuesta College.

Andre Pedroni scored three goals and Ivan Vranjes and Nenad Praporski each added two to lead the defending state champion Rustlers (32-1-1), who play West Valley (28-3-1) at 3:45 today for the state title.

In the other semifinal:

West Valley 13, Saddleback 4--Shaun Souza scored three goals and Brandon Joffe added one for Saddleback (28-8).

In the state women’s water polo tournament:

Golden West 14, Sierra 1--Chelsea Rowlands and Amanda Ogle overpowered Sierra with five goals each to lead Golden West in the semifinal game at Cuesta College.

Amber Zering made three saves for the Rustlers (32-0-1), giving up only one goal in the fourth quarter.

Golden West, the top-seeded team and defending state champion, plays fourth-seeded Grossmont (19-11-1) in the finals at 2:30 today. Grossmont defeated Riverside, 4-2, to advance to the championship game.

In the Fullerton men’s basketball tournament:

Saddleback 85, Palomar 66--Vernon Jackson had 16 points and Donzell Hayes added 15 to lead Saddleback. Jackson also had six assists for Saddleback (4-2), which took a 41-29 halftime lead. Ryan Meier scored 14 points to lead Palomar (2-4).

In the Porterville men’s basketball tournament:

Cypress 80, San Bernardino Valley 68--Meko Parker scored 21 points and Chris Killens and Brad Smith each added 19 for Cypress (3-3), which made 15 of 21 three-pointers.

In the Long Beach women’s basketball tournament:

Rio Hondo 81, Golden West 56--Amy Pace scored 17 points and Tracy Downs had 16 for Golden West (1-4).

In the Merced women’s basketball tournament:

Porterville 82, Cypress 75--Anteares Vice scored 21 points and grabbed 13 rebounds and Angela Garrett had 14 points for Cypress (1-3) in the consolation game.

In the Southern California men’s soccer playoffs:

No. 2 Santa Ana 2, No. 6 Irvine Valley 1 (OT)--Nick Perdom stole the ball dribbled around goalkeeper Miljan Soskic, and scored the game-winning goal in the 10th minute of overtime to advance the Dons to the state semifinals next weekend.

In the Southern California women’s soccer playoffs:

Cypress 2, Palomar 1--Lisa Hermenn rebounded a ball off teammate Amy Maloney and scored the game-winner in the 82nd minute.

Cypress (22-0-2) earned its fourth trip to the state semifinals, where it will play Ohlone next weekend at West Valley College in Saratoga.