It took a whole game plus for Cabrillo's Tyler Chard to finally get a clear look at the St. Joseph goal, and he did not fail.

Chard scored on a counter break with 1:05 remaining in sudden death overtime to give his Conquistadores an emotionally draining 8-7 win over the Knights in a semifinal game of the Los Padres League water polo tournament Monday at Paul Nelson Pool.

"That goal probably saved mine and (assistant coach) Jeff Dacus' lives," an exhausted Cabrillo head coach Joel Jory said after the game.

It was a summerlike day at the pool as Santa Ynez defeated Lompoc 12-5 in the second semifinal after St. Joseph beat Morro Bay 15-8 and Lompoc subdued Santa Maria 6-3 in first round matchups.

"It's fun," said St. Joseph head coach John Walker. "Big games like this are a blast and I love it - and I love playing Joel, he's a good friend."

Playing at the five meter position, Chard spent a lot of the game under the water as he fought a tight defense and several double-teams.

He was able to draw several St. Joseph ejections, but the Conqs were only able to convert 2-of-7 man-advantage situations.

"He is very, very talented and everything revolves around him," Walker explained. "So we tried to shut him down, that was our game plan."

The Knights scored three times with a man-up.

The Conqs needed two goals in the final three minutes of regulation to tie the upstart Knights and send the game into OT.

Emmett Hall scored at 2:43 with Cabrillo a man-up, then he scored again on a bounce shot with just 42 seconds remaining in regulation.

Both teams played stifling defense in the low scoring first half.

St. Joseph goalie Jake Eszes was brilliant in goal, stopping 14 shots, several from in close. Cabrillo's Felix Talkin was outstanding as well making eight saves.

"We had a lot of shots that we threw right at him," Jory said about Eszes. "He does a good job of coming up big, but he is not a huge goalie who can cover 10 feet of cage."

Cabrillo jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one quarter on goals by Chard, just 16 seconds into the game, then on a breakaway by Hall after he stole the ball at mid-pool.

St. Joseph got back in with two unanswered goals in the second. Andre Morales put the ball in the net at 6:18 then Andy Boniface scored right in front of the net with a man-up at 3:40.

"We had no school today, so it's a hard mode to get ready to play and we came out a little flat," Jory said. "I think St. Joe sensed that in the second quarter, and all of a sudden they did a good job getting back in the game."

The Knights jumped out front with the first two goals of the third, the first from Collin Cusack from outside then Vinnie Villalpando in front of the net.

Leading 5-3 going into the fourth, St. Joseph went into a defensive mode and held the Conqs until Hill's two goals.

"5-3 with six minutes is a long time against a team with tradition like Cabrillo has," Walker said. "I just looked at the clock going, 'can anybody make that thing go a little faster.'"

During the first three minute overtime period, Cabrillo scored twice, but St. Joseph answered back both times. Cusack scored with six seconds remaining to keep the game tied going into the second overtime period.

Eszes made four saves during the second OT to keep the Knights alive as neither team was able to score.

In the sudden death, St. Joseph had a long shot bounce off the inside of the crossbar right before Chard's game winner.

Cabrillo will play Santa Ynez for the league championship at 2:30 p.m. on Wednesday at the Lompoc Aquatic Center.

"If we can't be mentally up for that one, then we don't deserve anything," Jory said about Santa Ynez. "Hopefully things will be a little more ordinary on Wednesday.

St. Joseph makes it's bid for a CIF playoff spot in the third place game against Lompoc at 1:30 p.m.

"Who would have thought that in our second year we'd be where we are," Walker said. "They keep pushing their limits to where now they believe in themselves. They believe they can do it."

Santa Maria and Morro Bay play in the fifth place game at 3:30 p.m.

Santa Ynez 12, Lompoc 5

The Pirates broke open a tight defensive struggle with five unanswered goals in the third quarter to earn a spot in the LPL championship game on Wednesday.

Santa Ynez scored four goals in a span of two minutes and 20 seconds, from 4:58 to 2:38, before scoring another with 44 seconds remaining.

"At halftime I told our guys that we were faster than they were and the counter should be a big part of our plan," explained Santa Ynez coach Jake Kalkowski. "So we tried to press a little harder and tried to get a jump on them."

That quick span really changed the outlook of the game.

"On a man up we had a chance to make it 7-4 and close the gap a little bit," said Lompoc coach Kevin Hicks. "But we had a bad turnover and they converted that.

"They are a very good counter team - that's their game and that's our weakness."

In the first half, Lompoc goalie Joshua Rondash kept the Braves in the game making eight saves.

"I thought he played really well in goal today," Hicks said about Rondash.

The Pirates scored two goals in the last 2:09 of the first quarter to take a 3-1 lead.

Both teams scored twice in the second before the Santa Ynez explosion in the third.

Elijah Ozimec led the Pirates with four goals, including two in the third and Lucas Lastra added three. Adam Parlato scored twice in the game while Adam Taylor, Collin Deats and Luke Barber scored one goal each.

The Braves were led by Tyler Emery and Daniel Duneatz with two goals apiece and Michael Ostrander with one.

Lompoc 6, Santa Maria 3

Dunaetz, Emery and Ostrander each had two goals in the first round matchup.