Tornadoes, Panthers ready to tangle

Kaplanyan scored as time expired in regulation to give the Tornadoes a 14-13 first-round win against Walnut. He then scored on a final shot at the buzzer to force overtime before scoring the match-winning goal in overtime to dispatch Palm Desert. He had 10 goals in the match.

"Getting to the semifinals is a huge thing for us," Kaplanyan said. "I was confident I could finish both matches and help our team move on.

"I expect Poly to double-team me. I know [Katsuyama] has been scouting a lot of our matches. I don't know what kind of defense they will throw at me, but my teammates and I have to be there for each other."

Katsuyama said the Panthers will need to focus on Kaplanyan and prevent him from having another stellar performance.

"Stopping Hakop will be the No. 1 thing," Katsuyama said. "We have to make sure we know where he is in the pool at all times.

"We don't want to let him score 10 goals, so we'll try to have multiple guys around him."

The other semifinal match will feature top-seeded Bonita (20-10) against fourth-seeded La Serna (17-14) at 7:30 p.m. at the same site. The championship match will be held at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at the William Woollett, Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.