Corona del Mar boys’ water polo hangs on to beat Riverside Poly

The Corona del Mar High boys’ water polo team honored its 13-player senior class prior to Saturday’s home match against Riverside Poly.

Those seniors ended up making just enough plays for the Sea Kings to hang on for a 9-8 victory, but the consensus was that there was definitely room for improvement.

CdM has enjoyed a 12-1 start to the season, led by that senior group. Tyler Harvey had three goals, three assists and five steals for the Sea Kings on Saturday, while Tanner Pulice had two goals, three steals and drew three exclusions and a penalty shot.

Senior center Gavin Reed and emerging junior Eamon Hennessey each scored twice for CdM, which still nearly blew a 9-5 lead entering the fourth quarter. The Sea Kings were scoreless in the final frame and the match wasn’t secured until senior goalkeeper Harrison Smith saved a shot by Liam Davidson of Poly with 20 seconds remaining.

“I think that we learned something today,” CdM coach Kareem Captan said. “I think that we need to create better habits of coming out stronger, we need to create better habits of just a stronger effort in everything that we do. Defensively, offensively ... Hat’s off to Riverside for coming out and playing a hard game, especially losing a player early. I’m not taking anything away from Riverside, but I like to focus on what we’re doing, and the biggest thing for us is consistency.

“We’ve had great-effort games up until now. I like to critique our effort, and I think the boys know that from top to bottom we could have been sharper, we could have been more aggressive, we could have been a lot more organized. But overall, I think we learned something today.”

Poly (12-8) did lose Jack Sigloch to a match exclusion in the first half, though CdM senior set guard Haig Mavusi was also lost in the first half after picking up three exclusions.

The Sea Kings led 6-4 at halftime, despite going scoreless in four first-half power play chances. But Reed scored two power play goals in the third quarter, and Harvey added another as CdM built its five-goal lead.

Poly pulled starting goalkeeper Garret Griggs entering the fourth quarter, and he scored twice from the field. As importantly, CdM was unable to put any pressure on freshman backup goalkeeper Ryan Walker.

The Sea Kings had just one shot on goal in the fourth quarter — a Pulice penalty shot that Walker blocked.

“Everyone was just a little bit shocked,” Reed said. “That’s not CdM water polo. That’s not how we usually play. That’s not the system that we run, and that’s not the intensity that we usually bring.”

Evan Cain scored a match-high five goals for the visitors, and his outside strike with 2:06 remaining brought Poly within 9-8. But neither team would score again. Harvey came up into the passing lane to record a big steal with a minute left.

“We’ve just got to be more focused for our next one, and know we can’t let that happen again,” Pulice said. “We’ve had some good momentum over the last couple of weeks, only losing one game the whole season. Today was a huge wake up call. Going into this upcoming week, which is a big week for us, I think it’s really going to add some fuel to the fire.”

Smith made four saves in the second half for CdM. Senior Luca O’Brien made one in the first half, a big one as he stuffed a penalty shot, and added two assists. Seniors Aden Mina, Harry Rinker and Beau Akhavian all had one steal each.

The Sea Kings indeed have a big week ahead, facing rival Newport Harbor in the first Battle for the Bay match on Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. at Newport Harbor High. Both teams won their Surf League openers, so Wednesday’s match is for early possession of outright first place.

CdM then plays in the S&R Cup on Friday and Saturday at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.

“I like where we’re at right now,” Captan said. “Being 12-1 is a great start to the season. It’s great momentum moving into October, where we’re really going to be tested. We’ve played some really good water polo, and our guys are hungry to constantly improve.”

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