Girls water polo: Strong out of the gate

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - Despite what Newport Harbor High Coach Bill Barnett

called a sloppy second half, the Sailors’ girls water polo team was still

able to send a message in its 12-8 season-opening victory over visiting

Long Beach Wilson Friday.

The message: The Sailors will remain one of the top teams in Orange

County and in CIF Southern Section Division I. Mainly because of its

noteworthy experience and continuing maturation, Newport displayed that

message in the first half with a dominating defense that produced a 6-1

lead.

“Newport came out hard and ready to play,” Wilson Coach Tony Martino

said. “Bill Barnett is a legend of the game and his team played like all

Newport teams do. They pressed, fronted at the two meters and countered.

We started to play our style better in the second half.”

But it was too late.

Barnett’s Sailors had already built the big lead that also came about

because of fluid ball movement. However, in the second half, the Bruins

(1-2) went on a 5-0 run over five minutes, but Newport held them off in

the last five minutes, scoring four goals, while allowing two.

Newport junior Annie Wight drew a penalty to give senior teammate

Katherine Belden a four-meter shot and she made it for a 1-0 lead. After

the Sailors successfully defended a player-advantage situation, Paige

Lansing made it 2-0 with her goal. Three minutes later, senior goalie

Leah Grocki, who recorded 10 saves, stopped a Bruin shot and hurled an

accurate pass in front of Jessica Ball, who scored the first of her three

goals for a 3-0 lead.

“They were ready to go, there was no doubt about that,” Barnett said

of his Sailors. “They did some nice things. This is just our first game.

We have a lot of improvement to make to reach our full potential.”

Belden led the Sailors with four goals and was one of three girls who

provided strong defense on the Bruins’ Cassie Azevedo among other Wilson

standouts. Wight (two goals) and junior Jenna Murphy (one goal) also

contributed on defense, leading Barnett to say the trio, “did a great

job.”

The Sailors scored three more goals in the second period, when Belden

scored off an assist from Murphy, Ball scored with an assist from junior

Ashley Parole and Lansing made the most of a six-on-five with a goal that

gave Newport a 6-1 lead with 1:16 left.

But then came the sloppy second half.

After shutting out the Bruins on three player-advantages, Newport

allowed three goals with a player out. The third goal drew the Bruins to

within 8-5 with 44 seconds left in the third. And 13 seconds into the

fourth, Lauren Silver scored one of her three goals.

The Sailors answered with Wight, who drew an ejection that gave

Azevedo her third kick-out, subsequently putting her out of the game with

just under six minutes left in the game and Newport protecting the 8-6

lead. The Sailors capitalized on the six-on-five, when they displayed

their ball movement and Murphy fed a pass to Wight, who scored.

Belden scored on a six-on-five, Ball finished off a nice pass from

Belden and Wight tossed in a lob shot in the final two minutes to secure

the victory.

NONLEAGUE

Newport Harbor 12, Long Beach Wilson 8

Wilson 0 1 4 3 - 8

Newport Harbor 3 3 2 4 - 12

Wilson - Am. Lamb 3, Silver 3, C. Mota 1, Azevedo 1. Saves - Cheak 6.

Newport Harbor - Belden 4, Ball 3, Lansing 2, Wight 2, Murphy 1. Saves

- Grocki 10.