The San Ramon Valley High boys water polo team probably thought it was reliving a bad dream Tuesday night in its North Coast Section quarterfinal match against crosstown rival Monte Vista at the Soda Aquatic Center in Moraga.

The Wolves, who squandered a three-goal lead and fell to Monte Vista in East Bay Athletic League play, this time relinquished a 7-2 lead to the Mustangs.

This time, however, San Ramon Valley finished the job.

Senior Trevor Ryan took a pass from fellow senior Jason Roudnev and scored with 4:09 left in the fourth quarter to give the Wolves an 8-7 victory and a return trip to the NCS semifinals.

"Jason faked the ball and everyone kind of jumped, so he made a nice lob pass to me, and ... goal," Ryan said of his lone goal of the match. Monte Vista nearly tied it right before the final buzzer, but Spencer Peugh's skip shot was inches wide of the far post to his right.

The No. 5 seeded Wolves (19-7) will next face No. 1 Acalanes (18-7) at 5:45 p.m. on Thursday at the Soda Aquatic Center. The NCS final is at 3 p.m. Saturday at Miramonte.

A year ago, San Ramon Valley lost to eventual champion Miramonte 14-5 in the semifinals. Monte Vista fell to De La Salle 8-4 in the quarterfinals in 2008.

On Tuesday, the Wolves got it done with solid team defense, shutting out Monte Vista in the fourth quarter.

"Our team defense (was key), definitely," said Wolves coach Corey Dolley. "We had all six people playing

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with one goal in mind, and luckily, we were able to achieve that goal. That's what we always stress to everybody. Defense is not just one person but team defense."

Alan Robertson had two of his game-high three goals in the third quarter when the Mustangs outscored the Wolves 3-0 and tied it 7-7. Monte Vista scored twice late in the second quarter to shave the deficit to 7-4 and start a 5-0 run.

Miramonte 16, Las Lomas 9: The No. 2-seeded Matadors drew seven exclusions and a 5-meter penalty shot in the first half alone in a win over their Diablo Foothill Athletic League foe.

Freshman Charlie Wiser led the way for host Miramonte (21-4), scoring five times.

The Matadors took a 6-2 lead after the first period and led by as much as 11-3 early in the third quarter before the No. 7-seeded Knights (17-8) managed a bit of a comeback. The Knights cut the score to 13-8, but the Matadors scored three of the game's final four goals.

Bryan Snyder scored six times for Las Lomas and also played in goal for half a quarter.

"Offensively we were working for the team goal, but it really came down to the defense," said Miramonte co-captain John Holland, who added three goals. "The key was shutting down some of their players like Snyder and (Matt) Burke. We feel our offense can always score enough goals to win, it just comes down to the defense."

— Stephanie Hammon, correspondent

Acalanes 18, Amador Valley 5: The top-seeded Dons used a balanced scoring effort and had little trouble putting away No. 8 Amador Valley early in a quarterfinal game at Miramonte.

Ten Acalanes players scored, led by Nathaniel Whitmore and Michael Worthing, who had hat tricks. Nick Hoversten, Jake Kisner, Morgan Kennedy and Will Breshears each scored twice.

Acalanes (18-7) held an 11-2 lead at halftime, then sat its starters for the second half. The win advances Acalanes to the NCS semifinals for the first time since 2005.

Kyle Surber and Ben Sornsen, each with two goals, were Amador Valley's (15-11) leading scorers.

— Stephanie Hammon, correspondent

De La Salle 11, Campolindo 6: Behind the scoring of Thomas Nelson and Nick Cooper, the host Spartans broke open an early 2-2 tie and never looked back. De La Salle (18-7) jumped out to a 2-0 lead after one period, but two goals by Tor Jensen helped Campolindo (14-11) draw even early in the second. The Spartans led 6-2 at the half and 8-4 after three.

— Staff

Serra 11, Lynbrook 4: Quinn Curl scored three goals to lead the Padres (15-11) to the easy victory. Marco Buljan, Antonio DeLeon and Max Murphy scored two goals apiece as Serra, the No. 5 seed in CCS Division I, bolted to a 7-1 halftime lead. Matt Pritchett had 10 saves for Serra, which plays No. 4 seed Los Altos on Saturday at a time and place to be determined.

— Staff

Mountain View 13, Woodside 10: Woodside fell behind 5-0 after one quarter and was unable to dig itself out of the hole. Jake Anthony scored four goals for Woodside (17-8). Winston Chapman and Andy Bligh scored two goals apiece. Mountain View's Steven Chizen was high-scorer with six goals.

— Staff

Live Oak 12, Burlingame 8: Markus Gutierrez and Casey Sullivan scored three goals apiece, but it wasn't enough as Burlingame lost its first-round game. The Panthers trailed by three goals at halftime and by four (8-4) after three quarters. Noah Tandowsky had 12 saves for Burlingame (11-14).

— Staff