Harvard Responds to Shake-Up Call

STUDIO CITY — The Harvard-Westlake High water polo players were loose before Tuesday’s Mission League showdown with Crespi. They joked, they laughed, they fooled around.

Coach Rich Corso watched in dismay, certain his undefeated Wolverines would come out flat.

“I told two of my sophomores during warmups, ‘Look at those guys fooling around and laughing in the back,’ ” Corso said. “ ‘They don’t understand that Crespi wants them. We’ll get down one or two goals, I’ll have to call a timeout and we’ll have to have an attitude adjustment. Not a technical adjustment, an attitude adjustment.’ And it came true like I knew it would.”

The Amazing Corso, soothsayer.

Harvard did play listlessly in the first few minutes, but after Corso called his predicted timeout, the Wolverines scored nine consecutive goals and went on to win, 17-7, at Harvard (13-0, 6-0 in league play).

Jimmy Duff scored three consecutive goals during the run and finished with five.

“We knew they were gunning for us, but we didn’t take them seriously at first,” Duff said.

That was evident after Crespi (12-7, 5-1), behind, 1-0, took a 2-1 lead less than a minute into the game.

Richard Downey scored the Celts’ first goal on a lob shot that Harvard goalie Peter Kiefer got both hands on but let slip away.

Crespi’s Jon Schild stole the ball and scored on a fast break to give Crespi a 2-1 lead. Corso called his timeout and yanked Kiefer, an All-Southern Section Division I third-team pick last season.

“Of any position in the sport, I’m probably hardest on the goalie,” Corso said. “Any goal that is scored is a great shot, but when you have control of the ball like Kiefer did and let it score, that is unacceptable motor behavior for me.”

Senior Bepe Khayatian replaced Kiefer and played well, finishing with seven saves in nearly three quarters. Kiefer returned in the fourth quarter, not allowing a goal.

“Bepe is a good player,” Corso said. “It’s nice to have that luxury.”

Crespi Coach Jeff Thornton did not have such a luxury. Thornton’s expected starter at goalie, Travis Dooley, transferred to Agoura High at the beginning of the season, and Chris Scales had to be trained to take over the position.

Scales saved seven shots but was overwhelmed by a game-long barrage.

Ryan Flynn scored four goals for Harvard, ranked fourth in Southern Section Division I. Richard Won, Ronald Scott and Jason Manning each added two goals.

“I still think we’re No. 2 in the league for sure,” Thornton said. “This pool is a huge advantage for them--a six- or seven-goal advantage. Last year we lost here, 17-2, but lost only 9-7 at our place. So we’ll see. We get to play them again.”