Boys water polo: Sea Kings knock off Capistrano Valley

Tony Altobelli

CORONA DEL MAR - Corona del Mar High’s boys water polo used

Capistrano Valley High’s aggressiveness to the Sea Kings’ favor Saturday,

en route to a 10-3 nonleague win.

“Our boys did a good job of keeping their composure throughout the

contest,” assistant coach Tim Salvino said. “Capo came at with strength

and we used our speed against them.”

Goals were fairly well distributed for the Sea Kings, with Alex

Niehenke, Garrett Gentry and Garrett Bowlus each scoring two goals.

It was an intense matchup from the opening whistle for both schools.

For the visiting Cougars, ranked No. 9 in the CIF Southern Section

Division I poll, knowing perhaps they couldn’t get in a speed-swimming

contest with the Sea Kings (ranked No. 2 in Division II), they attempted

to dominate play with force, something that didn’t work right from the

start.

Less than a minute into the contest, Gentry was awarded a four-meter

penalty shot, which he converted to give the Sea Kings the lead,

something they would not relinquish the entire game.

After goalie Brad Netherton made one of his nine saves, Chris Street

converted from an assist from John Graass for a 2-0 lead.

Capistrano Valley lost one of its key players to an ejection and CdM

took advantage.

“Losing that guy might have taken something out of them,” Salvino

said. “It was nice to see us take advantage like we did.”

Senior Alex Niehenke and Bowlus scored to make it, 4-0, before Capo

finally got on the board.

Most, if not, all of CdM’s goals came on the transition, something

that was no accident, according to Salvino.

“We’re an aggressive team on the transition,” Salvino said. “Our

strength is when we counterattack and use our speed to our advantage.”

Niehenke scored again on a six-on-five advantage to increase the lead

to 5-1 before halftime.

Despite a solid offensive attack from Capistrano Valley to start the

second half, Netherton and the goal itself kept Capo from getting any

closer as Cougars shots repeatedly deflected off both of them.

But once again, CdM’s composure stood tall and the Sea Kings survived

the Capo rush with no damage done.

CdM made it 7-1 on back-to-back goals from Gentry and Bowlus within a

minute of each other.

Capo got as close as 7-3, before the attacking Sea Kings struck again.

Chase Emery took advantage of a 3-on-1 counterattack with four minutes

remaining, before John Graass and Matt Petry each added goals to complete

the scoring.

“Overall I was proud of our group from start to finish,” Salvino said.

“We were patient when we had to be and we were aggressive in the right

spots. We played the way we are capable of playing and that’s all we

could ask for.”

With the win, the Sea Kings improve to 9-6 and will resume Pacific

Coast League action with Estancia Thursday at 3 p.m. on the road.

NONLEAGUE

Corona del Mar 10, Capistrano Valley 3

Capo Valley 0 1 1 1 - 3

Corona del Mar 2 3 2 3 - 10

CdM: Niehenke 2, Gentry 2, Bowlus 2, Emery, Street, Petry, Graass.

Saves: Netherton 9.