Newport Harbor girls’ water polo earns runner-up finish at Bill Barnett Holiday Cup
Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo senior Caitlin Stayt made a last-second heave from about eight meters with the shot clock running down.
The ball caromed off the right post and into the goal late in the first quarter of Saturday’s Bill Barnett Holiday Cup tournament championship game against Mater Dei, pulling the Sailors within a goal.
Stayt broke into a grin.
“That was fun,” she said after the game. “A goal like that, I feel like it keeps everyone going a little bit. We were down two goals early. It was a funny one, so in a way I just laughed it off, but I think it definitely helped our momentum a little bit.”
Newport Harbor felt like it did take momentum from the tournament, even if the last match did not go the Sailors’ way. Mater Dei won the Holiday Cup for the first time, beating Newport Harbor 15-9 at Corona del Mar High.
Corona del Mar and Laguna Beach placed eight and ninth, respectively, in the 16-team tournament.
Newport Harbor (11-2) was able to avenge an early-season loss to Oaks Christian in the tournament semifinals, posting a 7-6 victory.
“They were definitely the hardest team we played going into this tournament,” Stayt said. “I think having a lot of easy games, people could assume we wouldn’t come out as strong. But we came out 3-0 against Oaks [after the first quarter] and I think that showed that we were ready to compete, even though we hadn’t had a test in a while.”
Sophomores Gabby Alexson and Emerson Mulvey had three and two goals, respectively, to lead the way against Oaks Christian, while Stayt and Sutton Harrington also scored.
The Sailors were able to limit the Lions to a one-for-10 showing in power play opportunities, holding on after taking a 7-3 lead into the fourth quarter.
Mater Dei (7-1), which outlasted top-seeded two-time defending tournament champion Orange Lutheran 10-9 in the other semifinal, had too much firepower for the Sailors in the title match. Junior Kirra Pantaleon (five goals) and sophomore Delaney Hook (four goals) were precise with their shooting, and senior EJ Hourigan had three goals for the Monarchs as well.
Junior goalkeeper Sienna Sorensen made eight saves for Mater Dei, which pulled away after a goal by Newport Harbor’s Valery Verdugo narrowed the Sailors’ deficit to 8-6 midway through the third quarter. Hook scored a power-play goal less than a minute later, before walking in and scoring again from about five meters. Hook then fed Maggie Ryan for another six-on-five goal, giving the Monarchs an 11-6 lead after three quarters.
“It was nice,” Mater Dei coach Chris Segesman said. “We work a lot on pushing the tempo of the game, and that transition is such a big difference in water polo for any team. Delaney hit some really nice shots. You get that three or four goal cushion and you have a good defense, it’s hard for teams to play against that.”
Mulvey, playing against her former team, scored four goals to lead the Sailors, half of those on penalty shots drawn by Alexson. Stayt had two while Sophia Verdugo and freshman Addison Ting also scored. Senior goalkeeper Lydia Soderberg made 10 saves.
Ting, left-handed attacker Campbell Pence and center Caroline Daniel were three freshmen who saw playing time in the final for Newport Harbor, which sees its depth as a plus moving forward.
“Overall, I told the girls I’m really happy with the weekend,” Sailors coach Ross Sinclair said. “We haven’t played in the championship game of this tournament in a while. These are the games you want to play in to set yourself up for where we want to be.”
Next up is another key tournament next weekend, the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.
“It’s definitely a quick turnaround, but we have three quality practices this week, and I know we’re going to watch a ton of film,” Alexson said. “This momentum of being in the finals is awesome, so we’re just going to carry that into Santa Barbara, and hopefully we’ll be successful.”
Corona del Mar, Laguna Beach place eighth, ninth
Corona del Mar suffered a pair of close losses to finish out the tournament on Saturday at its home pool.
CdM fell to San Marcos 11-9 in a fifth-place semifinal, before Foothill earned a 7-6 win over the Sea Kings in the seventh-place match.
“San Marcos is strong, physical,” CdM coach Marc Hunt said. “They’re a battle ... We lost 13-6 to OLu [in the quarterfinals] and what I liked out of that game is that we got to play a strong, physical game. Then the same thing against San Marcos.”
Foothill took a 7-4 lead late in the third quarter of the seventh-place match. CdM (9-3) responded with a rebound goal by Morgan Dollander. Piper Sidebotham found the right corner with 5:15 left in the fourth quarter to pull the hosts within a goal, but the equalizer never came.
Reagan Weir and Sidebotham led with two goals each in the loss, while senior goalkeeper Gabby MacAfee made eight saves.
Seniors Mackenzie Dollander and Didi Evans each scored three goals in the loss to San Marcos.
“We were right in it,” Hunt said. “When you come home to practice this week and you know there’s some very reasonable skills that we need to improve and shine up a little bit, that’s encouraging. That was my message to the group — we got what we needed out of this tournament.”
Laguna Beach (3-6) ended the tournament with a pair of wins Saturday at Foothill High. The Breakers beat Carlsbad 9-8 in overtime in a ninth-place semifinal match, then handled San Clemente 12-10 in the ninth-place match, avenging a loss from earlier this season.
Laguna senior Kara Carver led the way with six goals against Carlsbad. Carver also scored three goals against San Clemente, with Brooke Schneider and Presley Jones each scoring twice. Senior goalkeeper Siena Jumani made nine saves for the Breakers in the tournament finale.
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