Sailors’ plan:

In the playoffs, tough games are to be expected.

So Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo coach Bill Barnett wasn’t necessarily worried about last Friday’s tough 7-6 victory over El Toro, in the CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinals.

“A tough game is always good, as long as you win,” Barnett said.

But the last time the Sailors faced Long Beach Wilson, they didn’t win. Newport Harbor lost the nonleague game on Jan. 18 by the same score, 7-6.

The top-seeded Sailors hope for payback tonight, when they’ll face the Bruins again in the Division I semifinals at 7 p.m. at Irvine High.

That game will be preceded by the first Division I semifinal at 5 p.m., which will pit No. 2-seeded Corona del Mar against defending champion Foothill.

Newport Harbor (26-3) has already avenged its other two losses of the season, defeating both Dos Pueblos and CdM on the way to the Irvine Southern California Championships title. But the Sailors are well aware that senior-dominated Long Beach Wilson (23-6) remains a dangerous opponent.

“If we don’t play better, we may end up in the same boat [losing],” said Barnett, whose team has won 10 straight since the last loss to Wilson. “At least the girls know that if they don’t play well, they can be beat.”

Newport Harbor is led in scoring by a pair of transfers, in junior Nicolina McCall (52 goals) and senior Erin Reid (42). But the key to the game, Barnett said, may be on defense.

The Sailors will attempt to slow Long Beach Wilson senior center Kendall Wootten. The USC-bound Wootten scored a pair of goals the last time the teams played.

“We’ve just got to play really good two-meter defense inside,” Barnett said. “We can’t give them any easy counterattack goals.”

Corona del Mar (23-6), meanwhile, will face Foothill (23-6) for the third time this season. The Sea Kings lost to the Knights in the semifinals of the Holiday Cup, 6-5, but defeated them in a nonleague game at Beckman, 5-3, on Jan. 19.

CdM, which has won 18 of its last 19 games, also has a player to focus on: Foothill senior Emily Klug. She is another USC-bound player who plays both set offense and set defense for the Knights.

Klug has scored 56 goals this season.

“She could be the best player this year in high school,” CdM Coach Aaron Chaney said. “Foothill is just always well coached, they’re disciplined. They always play good defense. You have to play them smart.”

The Sea Kings are led in scoring by Heather Van Hiel (45 goals) and Victoria Kennedy (43). Chaney said he likes the fact that CdM is in the earlier semifinal today.

“I always like the first semifinal,” Chaney said. “Then you can kind of relax and watch the next game. The girls are all pretty happy, too, about having the first game.”

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at [email protected].