Girls water polo: CdM top seed in Div. IV

Barry Faulkner

Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools enter the CIF

Southern Section girls water polo playoffs with identical 21-6 records,

including unbeaten runs to their respective league championships.

The similarities end there, due to vastly different competitive

roadblocks to a section crown facing CdM, the No. 1 seed in Division IV,

and the Sailors, seeded No. 3 seed in Division I.

First-year CdM coach Aaron Chaney’s three-peat Pacific Coast League

champions appear head and shoulders above the competitive water line in

the rest of the division.

Consider the No. 2 seed, University (12-8), has already fallen, to the

Sea Kings, 8-5, while the Nos. 3 and 4 seeds, Los Amigos and Tustin, come

out of leagues lacking successful aquatics traditions.

Further, CdM enters this year’s tournament eager to avenge last year’s

7-6 semifinal loss to PCL rival Laguna Beach.

Newport Harbor, meanwhile, must likely overcome No. 2-seeded Foothill

and top-seeded Santa Margarita, both of which have defeated Coach Bill

Barnett’s Tars twice this season.

CdM, paced by All-CIF returners Christina Hewko, Danielle Carlson and

Daniela DiGiacomo, begins its quest for the program’s first CIF

championship Thursday, when it will host the winner of today’s wild-card

game between Ocean View (13-11) and Pacifica (5-7).

The Sea Kings would then likely meet Bay League champion Santa Monica

(16-12) in Saturday’s quarterfinals.

Tustin (20-3), the Golden West League champion, has not played

anywhere close to the level of competition CdM has. Perhaps the Tillers’

most impressive win is a 9-5 triumph over Sunny Hills, which finished

third in the Freeway League.

Newport, which was eliminated by El Toro, 7-6, in five overtimes in

last year’s Division I quarterfinals, hosts Esperanza (18-11) in

Thursday’s first round.

The Tars, led by three-time All-CIF performer Katherine Belden, a

UCLA-bound senior, defeated the Aztecs, 13-3, in the Sailors’ third game

of the season.

If successful, Harbor, which won the CIF Division I crown in 1999,

would face either San Clemente (17-6) or Long Beach Poly (13-10) in

Saturday’s quarterfinals. That quarterfinal winner would most likely draw

Foothill (22-2). The Knights have defeated Newport, 5-4 and 9-3.

Should the Sailors get past Foothill, they would likely meet Santa

Margarita (23-3), which has topped the Tars, 8-6 and 5-3, this year.

The championship game in both divisions is scheduled Feb. 23 at

Belmont Plaza.