WATER POLO : Orange County Teams Capture National Titles

Three teams from Orange County won national water polo titles Saturday at the Junior Olympics in Orlando, Fla.

SoCal, based in Tustin, won titles in the boys’ 13-and-under and the 17-and-under competition. Orange Regional Competition Aquatics won the 15-and-under championship.

The 15-and-under game was the most dramatic as ORCA beat SoCal, 4-3, when Joey Pacelli scored off a rebound with about 40 seconds left to break a tie. It was his second goal of the game.

Jon Pharris, who had four saves for ORCA, was the tournament’s most valuable player. He also scored on a length-of-the pool shot with two seconds left in the first half to tie the score, 1-1. It was ORCA’s first title.

SoCal won its fifth consecutive 13-and-under title with a 10-2 victory over Commerce. Nick Pacelli, the tournament MVP, scored three goals as did Josh Hewko.

SoCal’s 17-and-under team won its second consecutive title with a 7-1 victory over Stanford. Brian Brown and Jeff Pflueger each had two goals and Scott Hay, Adam Wright and Brian Heifferon each added one. Heifferon was the MVP.