First-round win fits Sea Kings fine

CORONA DEL MAR — Coach Aaron Chaney could have been in a grumpy mood, but the smile on his face gave him away.

Each year, when his Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team makes the CIF playoffs, it’s been tradition for the Sea Kings — and their coaches — to wear team shirts with nicknames on the back.

Chaney coached all of Thursday’s CIF Southern Section Division I first-round game against Long Beach Poly, which second-seeded CdM won 13-1, with his shirt on. The shirt is white, with pink lettering that reads “Chane-saw” on the back.

“Since they’re part of the team, they should have one too,” said senior Haley Prickett, who scored two goals against Poly.

Did Chaney and assistant coach Kyle “Krazy Ky Ky” Gorham want to wear them?

“I told them they had to,” Prickett said. “Chaney wasn’t wearing his, and he said ‘This is a team shirt,’ and I said, ‘Chaney, that’s not our CIF shirt.’ ”

The way the Sea Kings ripped through the visiting Jackrabbits, “chain saw” was probably appropriate. CdM (22-6), which won the CIF Division II title the past four years, scored five goals in the first quarter and six more in the second, on its way to a Division I quarterfinal date at El Toro on Tuesday.

El Toro beat Los Alamitos, 9-7, in another first-round game Thursday.

Leilani Livingston, Sarah Hutchison and Katie Indvik also scored two goals for CdM against Long Beach Poly (15-14). But all of those players were gone by the time the second half rolled around.

With the Sea Kings up, 11-1, at halftime, their third-quarter lineup consisted of Kate Berry, Carissa Dice, Annie Claster, Elise Molnar, Corinne Treadaway and Victoria Kennedy. The lineup was a mixture of varsity reserves and frosh-soph players.

“It’s great to see all your teammates go in there and get a chance to play,” said senior Paige O’Brien, who celebrated her 18th birthday with a goal. “It’s a good thing, because they know what they can look forward to next year. I remember when I was at that level, I was like, ‘I can’t wait until I start.’”

Starting the fourth quarter with Kennedy were Erica Wheeler, Katie McCormick, Leslee Kaczmarek, Victoria Kent and Margot Money. Playing in her first varsity game, Kent, a freshman, scored with 2:16 left.

Molnar added a goal on Berry’s assist on the Sea Kings’ next possession.

El Toro (16-13), who the Sea Kings have beaten twice this year, should be a tougher task. In CdM’s 6-3 win on Feb. 9, the Sea Kings were up by just a single goal in the fourth quarter.

“We need to go out there expecting a tough and hard game, but we can definitely beat them,” O’Brien said. “We proved it before, and I think we can prove it again.”

Chaney, meanwhile, still has to prove to his team that he deserves an extra-large CIF T-shirt.

“They get me a size large, but I want extra-large,” he said. “They tell me I’m a small person. I tell them I like to wear big clothes.”

CIF Southern SectionFirst round

Division I Playoffs

Corona del Mar 13,

Long Beach Poly 1

Score by Quarters

LB Poly 1 0 0 0 — 1

CdM 5 6 0 2 — 13

Long Beach Poly -- Meier 1. Saves -- Brawner 4.

Corona del Mar -- Indvik 2, Livingston 2, Hutchison 2, Prickett 2, Van Hiel 1, Levine 1, O’Brien 1, Molnar 1, Kent 1. Saves -- Murphy 3, Baldoni 6.