IRVINE >> The Woodbridge girls water polo team had to battle from behind throughout most of its CIF-SS Division 3 semifinal against Beckman on Wednesday at Beckman High School.

Woodbridge finally broke through in the final two minutes of the contest, first on a game-tying goal from Lindsay Cheung with just under two minutes remaining, followed by Rin Hoshina’s goal with 16 seconds remaining to give the Warriors an 8-7 victory.

The Warriors (18-9) will be making their first ever trip to a section final Saturday. They will play Bonita in the Division 3 final at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.

Bonita defeated Peninsula, 9-6, in the other semifinal Wednesday.

After Hoshina’s goal, 16 seconds remained on the clock, plenty of time to set up a play, but the Warriors tightened up their defense and the Patriots couldn’t get off a decent shot.

“We had to play man to man and force them to make a good pass,” Woodbridge coach Alexandra Farraro said. “Otherwise, we were going to give them a free shot and we didn’t want to do that.”

Beckman (19-10) had a 6-4 lead going into the fourth quarter after Cheung scored the fourth of her game-high five goals get the Warriors closer.

Cheung then scored on a penalty shot to make it a one-goal game.

Hoshina then made a long cross pass to Marin Hickson, who leaped up to handle the pass and then scored to make it 6-6 with 3:12 remaining.

The Patriots got the lead back 10 second later when Ryleigh Spurth faked a pass, getting the goalie to react and move to her left, and then fired the ball into the net.

Woodbridge then turned the ball over on a shot-clock violation but stole the ball right back, which led to Hoshina’s tying goal.

Cheung scored five goals for the second game in a row. The junior had five goals in the Warriors’ 16-10 victory over Temple City in the quarterfinals.

“She is fantastic,” Farraro said. “She gets it done.”

The Warriors and Patriots, who are Pacific Coast League rivals, were playing for third time this season.

Wednesday’s match was much closer than the first two matches, which were won by the Warriors, 15-8, and 18-10.

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“It was quite a battle,” Beckman coach Duje Grubisic said. “This game we prepared defensively quite a bit. We slowed down at the end a little bit. Overall, it was a tremendous effort.”