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Mater Dei’s girls water polo team features dynamic shooters and plenty of speed. The squad also carries an inspiration that has helped propel its historic tournament season.

PW.

Those were the initials on the front of the red T-shirts the Monarchs donned after defeating Orange Lutheran 14-12 in an overtime thriller in the finals of the Newport Invite at Foothill High on Saturday.

PW is short for Patrick Woepse, a former Mater Dei water polo standout who died in October at age 31 from a rare form of lung cancer.

Before playing at UCLA and marrying Olympian Maddie Musselman, Woepse played for Mater Dei coach Chris Segesman. Woepse left a legacy of an undersized and high-energy center who climbed the ranks through hard work. He also swam the English Channel and courageously fought cancer.

“You can do hard things,” Segesman said in a reference to a quote by Woepse that is printed on the back of the shirts. “That is the bread and butter of this team. That is what we live by all year.”

“(If you) can do hard things, you can accomplish a lot in this world,” the Olympian added. “That’s what we’re trying to do with these girls. In their youth, (we want them) to understand that if they work hard in life, they can be successful.”

In a clash of the top-two ranked teams in Orange County, No. 1 Mater Dei outlasted No. 2 Orange Lutheran in overtime to beat the two-time defending CIF-SS Open Division champion for the third time in as many matches.

Earlier this season, the Monarchs (20-2) beat the Lancers in the finals of the Barnett Holiday Cup and Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

Mater Dei had never won any of the three tournaments before this season.

“(Our) hard training, it’s great to see how it’s paying off in the end,” said Kira Pantaleon, who scored a match-high five goals and added an assist and field block.

Mater Dei needed persistence against Orange Lutheran (20-3). After regulation ended tied 10-10, the Monarchs netted the go-ahead strike on their first power-play goal of the match.

Riley Johnson drew Mater Dei’s second exclusion of the match and scored off an assist from Penny Mauser for an 11-10 lead with 2:23 left in first three-minute extra period.

About a minute later, Maggie Ryan drew a penalty at center that Pantaleon converted for a two-goal lead with 1:13 remaining.

Orange Lutheran quickly answered with an after-goal strike by Jailynn Robinson off an assist from Michelle Urkov but Mater Dei continued to surge. Segesman’s freshman daughter Paige took an entry-pass from Delaney Hook and scored with 37 seconds left in the first extra frame for the decisive margin.

Mater Dei didn’t draw its first exclusion until early in the fourth period. Bella Jurgensen earned the exclusion at center but the Lancers’ defense held.

The Monarchs finished 1 for 2 on the power-play while Orange Lutheran went 0 for 3 with the extra attacker and 3 for 4 on penalty shots.

“When you only get one exclusion, that means the other team played a really clean game,” Segesman said. “OLu is a great team. … It was a different game but a really good game.”

Panteleon helped Mater Dei pull through. Playing in her former home pool, the junior attacker from Foothill scored her second perimeter strike of the fourth period with one minute left to knot the score 10-10.

Goalie Sienna Sorensen also delivered a big play in the fourth period for the Monarchs. The junior made a point-blank save against U.S. national team member Allison Cohen with 3:10 left and the Mater Dei leading 9-8.

Cohen recovered to assist the tying goal by Urkov with 2:25 remaining in regulation as the duel intensified with a 9-9 deadlock.

Robinson converted on a counterattack with 1:14 left to give Orange Lutheran a brief lead at 10-9. But just seconds later, Pantaleon scored from about 7 meters for the eighth and final tie of the match, which sent the teams to overtime.

Orange Lutheran coach Brenda Villa said the Monarchs now have the inside track on the top seed for the playoffs no matter the outcome of the teams’ Trinity League match on Tuesday. But the Olympic gold medalist said there’s still plenty at stake for the match set for Mater Dei at 5:30 p.m.

“It’s league, it’s pride,” she said. “For us, it’s just continue to keep getting better.”

“(Mater Dei) is playing good,” the coach added. “Kirra is playing really well, shooting the ball really well.”

Goalie Kyla Pranajaya led Orange Lutheran’s defense with 13 saves. Sorensen finished with nine.

In the third-place match:

Newport Harbor 12, Oak Christian 7: Sophomore Emerson Mulvey and Kennedy Fahey scored power-play goals and sophomore Madison Mack added a perimeter strike as the Sailors scored three straight goals in the middle of the third period to pull away.

The Sailors played with Musselman on their bench as an assistant coach. Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said the former Corona del Mar and UCLA star will assist his boys and girls teams.

In the Irvine SoCal Championships:

Long Beach Wilson 7, Corona del Mar 6: UCLA commit Katherine O’Dea netted the winner with about 2:45 left to lift the Bruins to their SoCal title since 1998.

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