LJ g water polo 11, El Camino 4

Viking Karli Canale, the team's scoring leader,

takes her first shot in 11-4 carving of El Camino.

(Photo by Ed Piper)

By Ed Piper

As expected, La Jolla handily defeated El Camino, its first-round opponent in the Open Division of the CIF girls water polo playoffs, taking away a dominating 11-4 win at Coggan Pool Saturday afternoon, Feb. 20.

The Vikings played like the top-ranked team that they are in San Diego County from the beginning, sprinting out to a 6-0 first quarter lead and 8-1 at halftime to put the eighth-seed Wildcats away.

Though scoring leader Karli Canale's first shot was blocked after La Jolla took initial possession of the ball, teammate Lexi Atwell scored on the Vikings' next time down the pool, driving to the cage just over a minute into the game.

Then, after an El Camino turnover under suffocating defensive pressure, two-meter Ciara Franke scored on a one-on-one against Wildcat goalie Kara Irwin from point-blank range for a 2-0 lead.

Canale soon scored the first of her three goals during the first-half eight-goal barrage, taking aim from her favorite one-position as she surged out of the water to fire. El Camino called a timeout. There was 2:41 left on the clock in the opening period.

With no let-up in Coach Keller Felt's attack, Franke quickly netted her second goal on a backhand shot from her two-meter position in the offense. It was Franke's 63rd goal on the season, second only to Canale's 83.

Franke fed fellow junior Sydney Boland for a 5-0 lead. Captain Kira Bruno missed on a penalty shot with 38 seconds left, one of the few misses for La Jolla in the quarter. El Camino's bench had fallen stone quiet in the onslaught. Canale scored again just before the buzzer.

The Wildcats, after regrouping at the quarter break, finally scored to open the second quarter behind Bella Souza. But Atwell quickly scored again, taking a Canale pass on a six-on-five.

Meanwhile, goalie Summer Broekema showed some excellent play, blocking a five-meter penalty shot with three and a half minutes left in the half.

Canale, focused and ruthless on offense, put in her third shot of the half and La Jolla was leading 8-1 with two minutes still remaining.

The Vikings (24-4) play in the Open Division semifinals Thurs., Feb. 25, at 5:45 p.m.