Santa Margarita Stops Pulver, Defeats Villa Park

Fourth-ranked Santa Margarita put the clamps on one of the county’s top scorers and defeated second-ranked Villa Park, 8-5, in a nonleague girls’ water polo game Tuesday at Villa Park.

Jamie Kroeze was one of three players to score two goals and was also the key defender for an Eagle defense that shut down Villa Park’s Kristyn Pulver, who scored 102 goals last season. Tuesday, Pulver scored no goals and had only two first-half shots.

“We knew we had to stop Pulver to have a chance at winning the game,” Santa Margarita Coach Scott Taylor said.

So Taylor turned to his senior, who is quite familiar with Pulver.

“We play together in club,” Kroeze said. “Kristyn’s awesome. It’s very satisfying when you can stop someone like that, but it was a total team effort today. I knew we wanted it more today.”

After Villa Park’s Danee French scored from eight meters to tie it, 2-2, early in the third quarter, Clare Peyrebrune scored two goals in a 46-second span to help Santa Margarita (2-0) take the lead for good.

With 4 minutes 18 seconds remaining, Villa Park (1-1) made its last push when Pulver spun past Santa Margarita’s Kristina Kunkel at two meters and drew a foul. French scored her second goal on the ensuing four-meter penalty shot to pull Villa Park to within 6-4, but the Spartans drew no closer.

Kroeze and freshman Erika Figge, who had two goals, both scored in the final 2 1/2 minutes to seal the victory for the Eagles.

“Santa Margarita played well today,” Villa Park Coach John Carcich said. “I’m not happy about losing, but I still feel good.

“They shut out Kristyn, we played without one of our starters--Meghan Michel, who had a root canal done--we only convert 33% [two of six] of our six-on-fives, and we only lose, 8-5.

“We have a tough schedule but that will be good for us. There’s a long ways to go.”