In the Division II Central Section playoffs, it was sink or swim for the Madera and Exeter girls water polo teams.
While four intense quarters weren’t enough to decide the outcome, it was the No. 6 Monarchs that scored three overtime goals Saturday afternoon to pull out a 9-8 win over the No. 3 Coyotes at the McAlister Aquatic Complex to advance to the semifinals against No. 2 San Joaquin Memorial-Fresno.
“We had been preparing for this game all week and we knew what we had to do to win but in the end we weren’t smart with the ball,” Madera head coach Erik Baymiller said. “We had some bad passes and missed a couple of shots that we should’ve made. That pretty much decided the game.”
It seemed the game wouldn’t reach an extra session after Exeter scored the go-ahead goal with 42 seconds left in regulation before Madera (14-17, 6-4 CMAC) sent the match into overtime on a heroic shot made by senior caption Leanna Page...