Boys’ Water Polo: Newport Harbor opens playoffs with win

LAKE FOREST — Experience is a privilege to be had in sports.

Few factors have a greater impact on a team’s ability to remain calm in tense situations than the feeling of having been there before.

After a quick exit in last year’s playoffs, the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo team showed that it was ready to perform on the brightest stages.

Connor Turnbow-Lindenstadt scored four goals, and Newport Harbor sailed by host El Toro, 13-8, Wednesday in a first-round game of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

El Toro (18-10) carried momentum into the game, having just captured its first league title since 2011.

The Sailors (20-8) were not intimidated, having beaten the South Coast League champions, 11-9, earlier this season.

Senior captain Cole Brosnan scored twice in the first quarter to steer the Sailors to a 3-2 lead after the first period.

In the second quarter, it was his younger brother Ryan’s turn to make his mark. He scored twice in the frame, having great success with his outside shooting as Newport Harbor went into halftime with a 6-3 lead.

One year seemed to make a big difference for junior Ryan Brosnan, who recorded a hat trick. He said he was more at ease in looking to make the right play, not the big one.

“I get more comfortable every time because I’m more relaxed than before,” he said. “It’s not as scary as the first time because I’m not as worried about making the big plays. I’m more worried about just helping the team progress.”

The lead opened up to 10-4 following goals from Turnbow-Lindenstadt, Brosnan, Jason Grew, and John Rankin.

It looked to be an easy game to close out, but the Chargers had one more run in them. Goals by Joe Orozco and Chad Nelson made it 10-6.

Then Jack Leighton stole the ball from a Sailor at the top of their offensive set. He swam in on goalie Max Sandberg and put it past him for a third unanswered score.

Sailors coach Ross Sinclair had some concern, but he opted to let his players solve the problem on their own.

“Every time we started to separate ourselves, they would make a little run,” he said. “You’re a little worried as a coach at times, but these guys are a lot more experienced than we were last year.”

“I told them, ‘I’m not going to call timeout and bail you guys out,’” Sinclair continued. “These guys are tough enough mentally, and they know what to do to maintain that advantage.”

Two big plays later, problem solved. Turnbow-Lindenstadt lofted a lob shot into the far corner of the goal, calming the oncoming storm.

Moments later, Sandberg came up with a power-play stop against Sam Gallo, effectively ending El Toro’s comeback bid.

“They were starting a little run, and that just put an end to it right there,” Turnbow-Lindenstadt said of the sequence. “We trust our five-man [unit], so if we have to take exclusions, we will.”

“We definitely try to limit them. Some of them shouldn’t have happened, but overall, I think we did well on five-man.”

Sandberg commanded the stage of his first playoff game. He blocked 11 shots, and he was very vocal in helping his teammates out when they were at the offensive side of the pool.

“I like to play under pressure, and I like to play in big games,” he said. “I think that’s really going to count in the playoffs.”

The Sailors hope to ride the confidence of their goalie into the next round. They will need strong outings from their junior netminder to get deep into the playoffs.

In the quarterfinals, Newport Harbor draws top-seeded Los Angeles Loyola in a home match on Saturday. The Cubs defeated Los Osos, 13-6, on Wednesday night.