![\"\"](\"images\/archive\/sports\/image1257920198-72782.jpg\")
It can be hard\u2014especially in the playoffs\u2014to feel like a loss is a moral victory. \u00a0<\/span>But Poly’s boys’ water polo team showed incredible spirit and ability in an 8-7 loss to Aliso Niguel in the first round of the CIF playoffs yesterday afternoon, falling behind 5-1 before rallying to tie the game.<\/p>\nThe opening rush from Aliso seemed to catch Poly off guard\u2014just over two minutes into the game, they were down 2-0, and by the end of the first quarter they were down 5-1, and it seemed like they were well on their way to being blown out in their own pool, totally unable to stop the offensive onslaught of Matt Villanueva and Zach Borsuk (who had all of Aliso’s goals in the match).<\/p>\n
Then, the Jackrabbits rallied, keyed by an impressive defensive effort\u2014Aliso didn’t score in the second quarter, or the first half of the third.\u00a0 <\/span>In the second quarter, Poly forced two :30 second violations on Aliso and recorded four steals, as Rabbits goalie Ishmael Pluton kept the net clean for his teammates.\u00a0 <\/span>The Rabbits got two big goals from Isaac Prieto on solo efforts in the second and, along with Nick Lombardino’s goal-mouth turnaround score, were down just 5-4 at halftime (Prieto scored a team-leading three goals, and Lombardino added two).<\/p>\n Early in the third, Brian Mojica scored on a long shot to tie it at five\u2014both teams scored another goal (Mojica tied it again at six after Bursuk scored) to send the game into the fourth quarter tied up at six.\u00a0 <\/span>Then, with the second round of the playoffs on the horizon, both teams reached into the gas tank for whatever was left, and it seemed Aliso had a little extra, as they outscored Poly 2-1 in the final period.\u00a0 <\/span>The Rabbits scored first, to take their first lead of the game, on a nice skip shot by Lombardino.\u00a0 <\/span>Then, when Poly had a player excluded and still <\/em>had their defense hold, it seemed they were headed for victory.<\/span><\/p>\n But Villanueva wasn’t done yet, scoring with two goals in the last two minutes, the first on a skip shot, the second on a solo breakaway goal where he slipped past the Poly defense and hammered home the game’s winning shot, with just 1:46 left.\u00a0 <\/span>The Rabbits’ comeback efforts fell short, and they somehow found themselves on the losing end of an incredibly hard-fought battle.<\/p>\n “It’s just so hard to come back from down 5-1,” said Poly coach Scott Penttila.\u00a0 <\/span>“You have to exert a lot of energy, it depletes your reserves.”\u00a0 <\/span>Pleased with his team’s effort in this game and in a difficult schedule this season that some them playing a number of ranked opponents (they finished 16-12), Penttila was obviously smarting from the sting of the near-win.\u00a0 <\/span>“You just can’t go down 5-1 and expect to win very often,” he said.\u00a0 <\/span>Credit to Poly then, that they almost did.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" The Rabbits went down 5-1 but came back to tie it, before falling on a goal in the last two minutes of the 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