San Marcos girls water polo wins overtime playoff thriller in CIF-SS Open Division

ORANGE, Calif. (KEYT) - Buckle up, the CIF-Southern Section Open Division girls water polo playoffs are a thrill ride.

#5 seed San Marcos High School outlasted #4 Orange Lutheran 15-14 in overtime to begin postseason pool play in a game played at Santiago Canyon College.

USC-bound senior star Charlotte Raisin scored 6 goals for San Marcos who overcame an early 4-1 deficit to the home Lancers.

Sophomore Jade Pattison scored three first quarter goals as the Royals managed to tie the game at 6 in a high-scoring opening quarter.

The game was tied at 10 at the half and then the defenses settled in for the rest of the game.

San Marcos did not score in the third quarter and trailed 12-10 heading into the fourth quarter.

Raisin, sophomore McKenna Stuart and junior Shea Estabrook each scored in the fourth quarter for the Royals.

The defense came up with timely steals and Harvard-commit Bethany King totaled five blocks in the cage as the Royals allowed just one goal in that fourth quarter to send this game into overtime tied at 13.

Estabrook opened up the scoring in the first three-minute overtime session and Pattison followed with a beautiful outside shot that she floated over both her defender and the goalie for what proved to be the winning shot.

The Royals led 15-14 after the first overtime period and no one scored in the second three-minute overtime.

Charlotte Raisin sealed the game with a steal with less than 10 seconds left and the Royals ran out the clock and celebrated a huge road win to open up the playoffs.

The Royals continue pool play A on Saturday at #1 seed Mater Dei who beat Long Beach Wilson 13-5.

In pool play B, #2 Newport Harbor crushed Corona del Mar 18-4 and #3 Oaks Christian routed JSerra 13-3.

The top three teams in each pool advance to the next round with the winners of pool A and pool B moving directly into the semifinals.