Panthers battle hard, fall just short of championship

Fate can be a cruel thing.
On Saturday afternoon, it seemed to toy with Porterville’s girls water polo team, dangling the mirage that nearly became reality — a Division II Central Valley water polo championship.
But fate, by any other name in this case, is El Diamante.
After halting No. 3 Porterville’s bid for a three-peat in the semis last year, the No. 1-ranked Miners intervened again by scoring two goals early in the fourth quarter to break a 4-4 tie and hung on for a 6-4 win to claim their second crown in as many years.
“We should’ve had this game,” said Porterville’s Kimber Methvin, who paused as she fought back tears. “But we didn’t.”
Methvin, one of six senior Panthers who played their final game Saturday, was held scoreless by being crowded out of her comfort zone — the two-meter hole where she dominated all season — with up to four Miners on several occasions.
“We knew they were going to smother Kimber and she did what she could,” Panthers coach Richard Taylor said.
Added Methvin, “They had two or three people on me and I couldn’t really keep up. They played a really good game.”
And so did the Panthers, who jumped out to a two-point lead early in the second period after the two heavyweights drew to a scoreless tie in an intense first quarter.
Porterville’s Megan Harrison, who finished with 10 saves, batted away two point-blank shots by the Miners – the second at the buzzer of the opening quarter.
Harrison’s play seemed to ignite the spark that would see teammate Kyla Hill fire from seven meters out and score less than two minutes into the second quarter. And two minutes after that, a wide open Coriann Snyder took a long pass and hit the back of the net from close range.
When El Diamante’s Alyson Huber and Cursti Aguilar answered with two straight goals before the half, the shootout was on.
“It was one of those games — a real chess match,” Taylor said. “I kept telling my girls, the closer we get (for the shot), the advantage goes to us, because they just take off and go.”
Facing perhaps the quickest counter-attack they’ve seen all year in El Diamante, the Panthers responded by changing their style on the fly, looking for perimeter shots from long range. The strategy proved successful – at first.
Porterville’s Ally Whiteman, who was a last-minute decision to play due to illness, launched three shots after halftime from left-center about nine meters out, scoring on one of them.
“(Whiteman) came through for us and made some good shots,” said Taylor, who also applauded Snyder’s outside shooting.
But slowly, the odds of settling for long-distance shots began to favor the Miners, who were led by 6-foot-1 goalie Libby Falat’s 17 saves.
“Their goalie is used to people shooting from the outside and she’s really good at (blocking them),” Methvin said. “They made us play how they wanted us to play.”
More specifically, it was El Diamante’s Brittani Marquez who played the way she wanted, scoring all of her game-high four goals in the second half.
Marquez scored from the hole with seven seconds left of the third to tie the score at four, which ultimately proved the straw that broke the Panthers’ backs.
“That kind of got into our heads,” Methvin said. “We got down on ourselves and didn’t get back on defense after that.”
Marquez went on to score her next two goals – one a penalty shot and the other a tap-in from a Huber alley-oop – leaving three minutes on the clock for Porterville to retaliate too little, too late.
Falat, who helped beat Porterville in her junior year last season, revealed her fears of playing the Panthers before Saturday.
“When I learned we were playing Porterville, I was nervous because we didn’t know what to expect,” Falat said. “We were prepared for (No. 2) Sunnyside, not Porterville.”
The Panthers, who finished the season 27-2, can take consolation in the fact that Taylor believes they were his best overall team he’s coached in his 18 years of mostly dominant Porterville water polo.
“I’m not ashamed of this team,” Taylor said. “We had a great run and the girls have come a long way. I’m real proud of that.”