Porterville dismantles Yosemite in quarterfinals

One down, two to go.

The regular season is behind them and the wait is over as Porterville’s vaunted girls’ water polo program began its quest for the Division II Valley title that barely eluded them last year.

The No. 1 Panthers, who had a bye in the first round, took out No. 8 Yosemite, 17-7, Thursday night in their first step toward the championship game — one that many has them penciled in to return.

Porterville faces the winner between No. 4 Edison and No. 5 Golden West, Saturday, set tentatively for 11 a.m.

But Porterville coach Richard Taylor made sure his girls didn’t overlook the pesky Badgers on Thursday.

“Our mindset is that every game starts 0-0, like, ‘Let’s go out there with intensity and do this,’” said Panthers goalie Raven Kapphahn, who’s enjoyed a breakout season replacing Megan Harrison and is a top candidate for EYL first-team honors.

“In the past we’ve had bad experiences where we’d lose to an easy team,” Kapphahn continued. “Coach told us, ‘I don’t want this happen ing to you. You’ve gotta take it seriously.’”

Porterville shrugged off a four-minute lull to start the match and got down to business. Coriann Snyder and Kyla Hill each scored three goals in the final three minutes of the first quarter to break out a 7-0 lead.

Snyder scored another in the second period despite being triple-teamed and Hill also scored one in the same period when Kapphahn found her alone on the other end of the pool for an easy counter-attack goal. Snyder and Hill finished with six apiece.

“I was really impressed with our girls,” Taylor said. “I thought they all played well — especially our bench.”

Four other Panthers scored, including Jenna Morris, who scored both of hers in the final period after Yosemite mounted a small comeback and outscored Porterville, 3-1, in the third quarter.

The Badgers’ Leslie Lauterbach scored two of her team-high three goals during the rally and had several more attempts, but Kapphahn quickly stuffed them with an impressive pair of back-to-back blocks.

She had to keep from laughing during the game, however, as Hill, Snyder and the other starters were taking a break behind the net and cheering her on, ‘Finding Nemo’ style.

“They were making whale sounds,” Kapphahn explained. “In the movie, Dory speaks whale and they were like, ‘Goooood jooooob, Raaaaaveeeen.’”

The Panthers were nearly without their starting goalkeeper because she’d been sick the past few days and was told to adhere to a liquid-only diet yesterday.

But the senior said she prepared too hard to miss any games this year in her new role.

“I knew it was gonna happen,” Kapphahn said. “Most of them don’t wanna get hit by the ball. It scares them. But you get used to it; getting hit is no big deal anymore.”

Kapphahn ended up playing nearly all four quarters anyway and the Panthers are moving on — if they stay focused.

“I think we’ll keep our heads in the game because that’s our overall goal,” she said. “We’ll pull it off.”