Girls’ Water Polo: CdM puts up fight
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In each of the three major girls’ water polo tournaments this season, the Mater Dei High girls’ water polo team has stopped Corona del Mar from advancing.
The fourth tournament starts in less two weeks, the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs. It’s there that the Sea Kings are hoping for a breakthrough type of victory against a top team.
They came oh so close to getting one Friday night in the quarterfinals of the Irvine Southern California Championships. But No. 2-seeded Mater Dei prevailed, 6-5, at the CdM pool.
Corona del Mar (16-7) will play Foothill in a tournament fifth-place semifinal on Saturday at 9 a.m. at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.
In the first semifinal, top-seeded Laguna Beach faces off against No. 4 Dos Pueblos at 10 a.m. Mater Dei advances to play No. 3-seeded San Marcos in the second semifinal at 11 a.m.
For CdM, ranked No. 7 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, Friday night marked the third loss of the season to No. 2 Mater Dei. The Monarchs edged CdM, 8-7, in the semifinals of the Holiday Cup and also beat the Sea Kings, 14-10, in the quarterfinals of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
If the rankings hold up, the teams also could possibly meet in the quarterfinals of the Division 1 playoffs. Either way, CdM Coach Kevin Ricks believes his team takes momentum from Friday’s game. The Sea Kings held Mater Dei to one for eight in power-play opportunities, while converting two of three themselves.
Junior goalie Erin Tharp made 10 saves to lead the defensive effort.
“Defensively, I think we did enough to win,” Ricks said. “We did a nice job of shutting down their six-on-five opportunities. Obviously, Erin had some nice saves there, and I thought we did a very good job of shot-blocking.
“I think what we were trying to do is not let them get the ball to the post. We’re trying to keep the ball on the perimeter, and I thought we did a real good job of forcing that shot from the perimeter. The girls did a good job of being steady as a shot-blocker, and maintaining their spacing. I felt like each time that Mater Dei was taking a shot from the perimeter, they had to beat multiple shot-blockers plus Erin ... it becomes tough to score.”
Mater Dei (19-4) took a 4-1 halftime lead, but CdM battled back. Senior captain Emily Ritner had two of her shots in the first half sail over the cage, but she scored both six-on-five goals in the third quarter. The second one, coming on a rebound, pulled CdM within 5-4.
Mater Dei junior Grace Thawley drew and converted a penalty shot to put her team back ahead by two goals entering the fourth quarter, before CdM cut it to a one-goal game again. This time, it was two more senior captains hooking up, as Kelly Morgan’s cross pass went to Sarah Lawson. Lawson, who had two goals and an assist, put the shot away with 1:46 remaining.
But her shot from six meters with about a minute to go skipped just wide left. CdM never got the ball back after that. The shot clock reset for Mater Dei after sophomore Hannah Constandse drew an exclusion with 35 seconds to play.
The Monarchs were in no hurry to shoot. When the shot did come, Tharp saved it with eight seconds left. But the ball skipped out of play, and Mater Dei was able to run the clock out.
“The girls battled,” Ricks said. “Yeah, we went down a little bit, but they fought for it and kept battling. That was really good to see ... I think the girls are right there. The girls showed up to play. Win or lose, that was a great game for us.”
Sophomore center Layne Anzaldo scored the Sea Kings’ first-half goal. Junior Chloe Harbilas had an assist and two field blocks, while sophomore Sophie Wallace also had a field block before fouling out late in the third quarter.
Thawley led Mater Dei with two goals, while Nicole Kresich, Brooke Banta, Bella Baia and Constandse scored one goal each and Marley Presiado made seven saves.
Banta, a Newport Beach resident, also had a pair of field blocks.
Saturday will be CdM’s last top competition before the playoffs, as the Sea Kings close out the regular season next week with Pacific Coast League games against Northwood and Irvine. CdM has split its two games this season with Saturday morning’s opponent, Foothill, which is ranked No. 6 in Division 1.
The Sea Kings could play either No. 4-ranked Orange Lutheran or No. 9 Los Alamitos in their final game of the tournament, which will be for either fifth or seventh place. CdM is 0-1 this season against Orange Lutheran and has not played Los Alamitos.
“This is kind of the pivotal point in our season,” Emily Ritner said. “We’ve been lucky because we’ve had team chemistry the whole season, because we only graduated Bridgett [Storm] and Heidi [Ritner] really from the starting lineup.
“I think [the next three weeks] is going to be the best three weeks that we have, because it’s the last three weeks that we have together. We all love playing together ... and we’re going to keep grinding, keep pushing forward. You know, maybe that big, shock game is going to happen in the playoffs. That’s what we’re hoping for.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
