Patricia del Soto, known as Wild Blood, star women’s water polo goalie from Spain.

El Cuervo video on women’s international water polo star Blanca Gil

Amazing international water polo videos of some goalies making foot saves….who said water polo players can’t use their feet.

After the great CIF division finals last week, not sure how excited we are about this Masters tournament but here’s the scoop. Tourney runs Friday and Saturday with the finals at 7:30pm at El Toro. Semifinals at 1:00 and 2:15.
First Round matchups
(1) Newport Harbor vs (16) Sonora
(8) Laguna Beach vs (9) Riverside Poly
(5) Long Beach Wilson vs (12) Villa Park
(4) Foothill vs (13) Ayala
(6) Los Alamitos vs (11) El Toro
(3) Dos Pueblos vs (14) Murrieta Valley
(7) Santa Barbara vs (10) Santa Margarita
(2) Corona del Mar vs (15) Arroyo Grande

The SJ Mercury News reports several USC signees:

Palo Alto high’s Will Simon signed a letter of intent to play water polo at USC.

The senior goalkeeper helped lead the Vikings to the Central Coast Section Division I title match by stopping 81 percent of the shots he faced, he totaled 320 saves this season.

Joining Simon on the Trojan squad will be St. Francis star Tom Avery, a versatile utility player who had 47 goals, 26 assists and 78 steals as the Lancers finished second in the CCS Division II playoffs.Mercury News player of the year Elliott Samuels of Los Altos High also signed with the Trojans, who finished second in the NCAA tournament. Samuels is a driver who scored more than 100 goals for Los Altos this year.

Matt Flesher (UCLA assistant), Boyd LaChance (Cal assistant) and James Graham (Santa Rosa JC) have interviewed at UOP.

Read more about them in this article from the Stockton Record. The AD says he wants to announce this week.

San Diego girls championships were last weekend as well. Coronado snaps its rival Bishops’ four year streak of titles and Vista outlasts Carlsbad.

Div II: Coronado 8 - Bishops 6

Div I:  Vista 12 - Carlsbad 11

Daily Trojan: Water Polo Wins Two, Loses Two at Tourney
Daily Aztec: SDSU makes strides despite suffering loss
Daily Cal: Cal upends USC and Hawaii, Lands Third at UCI Invitational
Stanford Daily: Bruins Top Card in 2OT
Daily Bruin: Win Solidified in Final Moments
Los Angeles Loyolan: Big Win Over Weekend for Women’s Water Polo
Daily Nexus: UCSB Struggles Mightily

UCLA held its position as the No. 1 team in the country, winning the Irvine tournament title. The Bruins beat Stanford 8-7 in sudden death on a lob by senior Gabrielle Domanic. Cal got a big win, defeating USC for third by a score of 9-8 behind great outside shooting by Molly Hayes and Meghan Corso.

Final Standings (UCI website with results/box scores)
1. UCLA
2. Stanford
3. Cal
4. USC
5. Hawaii
6. Davis
7. San Jose St
8. LMU
9. San Diego St
10. ASU
11. UCI
12. Long Beach St
13. Michigan
14. Northridge
15. UCSD
16. UCSB

Harvard Westlake girls water polo much publicized run ended with a loss to Arroyo Grande 8-7. Read more