Southern Section Playoffs : WATER POLO : Third-Place San Clemente Receives a Wild-Card Berth

San Clemente, which spent most of the season as the No. 2-ranked water polo team in the Southern Section Division 4-A, received a wild-card playoff spot in the pairings announced Monday.

The Tritons (22-4), who lost two of their last three South Coast League games and received the third playoff spot from the league, will play at Esperanza, the third-place team from the Empire League, at 3:15 p.m. Wednesday. The winner will play Sunny Hills (13-12), the Freeway League champion, in the first round Friday.

Corona del Mar (24-2) received the No. 1 seeding and will play host to Long Beach Poly Friday. Capistrano Valley (22-4) is seeded second and will play Buena Park in the first round.

The most notable thing about the 4-A pairings may be what they lack: a defending champion. El Toro (16-9), which won the 4-A championship last season and the 3-A title the previous two years, finished fourth in the South Coast League.

In Division 3-A, Edison received the third seed and plays host to Mira Costa Friday. Marina, which finished second to Edison in the Sunset League, is seeded fourth and will play host to Mater Dei.

In Division 2-A, Brea-Olinda is seeded fourth and will play host to Webb.

The schedules for Orange County teams:

All matches at 3:15 p.m.

Wednesday

Wild-card games

Division 4-A--San Clemente at Esperanza, Canyon at Tustin. Division 2-A--Whitney at Magnolia, Estancia at La Quinta.

Friday

First-round games

Division 4-A--Long Beach Poly at Corona del Mar, winner of San Clemente-Esperanza at Sunny Hills, Los Alamitos at Villa Park, Millikan at Dana Hills, La Habra at Long Beach Wilson, Foothill at Newport Harbor, winner of Canyon-Tustin at El Dorado, Buena Park at Capistrano Valley. Division 3-A--Servite at La Serna, Fountain Valley at Downey, Mater Dei at Marina, Mira Costa at Edison. Division 2-A--Don Lugo at Kennedy, winner of Whitney-Magnolia at Laguna Beach, Webb at Brea-Olinda, Western at Costa Mesa, winner of Estancia-La Quinta at Walnut.