CdM settles for third
Bryce Alderton
Unselfish passing and a defense that held up under pressure proved
enough for the Corona del Mar High girls water polo team to defeat
Santa Margarita, 8-6, in a third-place game at the Newport
Harbor-Corona del Mar Holiday Cup Saturday at Newport Harbor High.
Six of the Sea Kings’ eight goals came via the assist. Seniors
Daniela DiGiacomo (three) and Christina Hewko (two) paced the Corona
passing game with Danielle Carlson (one) also contributing in the
assist department.
Carlson helped more so on the scoring end, leading the Sea Kings
(7-1) with four goals as they built a lead as big as 6-3 with 2:39
left in the third period.
The Eagles (5-3) wouldn’t get closer than two goals the rest of
the game as CdM senior Brittany Bowlus made it a three-goal cushion
with 3:31 left after taking a pass from Hewko in set and rifling it
into the net. Hewko and Bowlus were both first-team All-CIF Southern
Section Division IV selections a year ago and will continue their
water polo careers at Stanford and UCLA, respectively, in the fall.
Corona continued its swarming defense as of late in holding Santa
Margarita to a 1-for-7 clip on man-advantage situations.
Santa Margarita’s only lead came at 1-0 when senior Erika Figge, a
member of the U.S. under-20 national team, scored the first of her
team-high three goals on a pass from sophomore Kacy Kunkel. Figge
also tallied three assists.
“I never felt comfortable against Santa Margarita,” said CdM Coach
Aaron Chaney. “They have too many good players. One of the things I
told the girls before the game was that (Santa Margarita) was going
to come out with a vengeance after this morning.”
The Eagles lost to Newport, 10-8, in the semifinals earlier
Saturday while CdM lost to Foothill, 10-7, in what Chaney said was
the best game a Sea King team has played in his 2 1/2 years as an
assistant under former head man John Vargas and taking over head
coaching duties before last season.
Corona tied the Knights, 7-7, in the fourth quarter and had a
player-advantage opportunity but couldn’t capitalize and Foothill
advanced to the finals where it beat Newport, 8-7.
“They exercised a lot of patience on offense,” Chaney said of his
players following the Foothill game.
CdM forced Santa Margarita to the perimeter and the Eagles several
times had to throw up desperation shots to beat the 35-second shot
clock. The shot clock horn sounded three times for the Eagles.
Meanwhile, Corona’s defenders made entry passes hard to come by
for Santa Margarita. Junior two-meter defenders Vivian Liao and Katya
Eadington converged to break up an pass toward the middle of the pool
in the CdM zone in the second quarter while freshman Camille Hewko
caught up to Sara Hamilton in the third period. The CdM defender used
her right arm to thwart a shot attempt by Hamilton, who had gotten
free down the pool before the Sea King caught up.
Christina Hewko tallied one goal and had two assists while Jessica
Harkins (one), DiGiacomo (one) and Bowlus (one) all tallied scores
for CdM. DiGiacomo had three assists for the victors and sophomore
goalkeeper Brittany Fullen made five saves.
In Corona del Mar’s 10-7 loss to eventual champion Foothill
earlier Saturday, Liao and Harkins each had two goals while
DiGiacomo, Bowlus and Carlson all scored one goal.
Newport Harbor-Corona del Mar
Holiday Cup
CdM 8, Santa Margarita 6
Score by Quarters
S. Margarita 1 2 1
2 -- 6
CdM 3 2 1 2
-- 8
Santa Margarita -- Figge 3, Kunkel 1, Stachowski 1, Hamilton 1. Saves -- O’Connor, none.
Corona del Mar -- Carlson 4, Christina Hewko 1, Harkins
1, DiGiacomo 1, Bowlus 1. Saves -- Fullen, 5.
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