CdM reaches semis
Corona del Mar High Coach Ross Sinclair calls Mark Walsh the Bill Barnett of Santa Barbara. Not in terms of age, but success as a coach in water polo.
Sinclair’s girls faced Barnett’s Newport Harbor team a couple of weeks ago, without Barnett at the game because he was hospitalized, and the Sea Kings lost by one goal. Sinclair got a chance to coach against Santa Barbara’s younger version of Barnett on Friday.
Sinclair and Walsh seem to keep running into each other at every high school tournament, and always in the same round. Their programs met for the third time in a quarterfinal match in the last 11 months.
A lot more was at stake in the quarterfinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs last February at CdM. The Dons stunned the No. 3-seeded Sea Kings, 10-9, in sudden-death overtime back then, ending CdM’s 14-year run of qualifying to the semifinals.
The latest meeting between the two schools involved no extra time. Their quarterfinal in the Holiday Cup on Friday was over after the first seven minutes, as host CdM produced five of the first six goals, routing Santa Barbara, 16-8, to advance to the semifinals of the tournament it co-hosts with Newport Harbor.
The Sea Kings square off against Foothill in the semifinals at Newport Harbor High on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. The matchup features the No. 2- and No. 4-ranked teams in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 poll. Beating Santa Barbara (4-6) to reach this stage meant something to CdM (4-1).
“A lot of these girls were excited to play this game to get kind of, I don’t know if it is revenge, but it was an opportunity to play them again,” Sinclair said. “The last time we played them it was a little unfortunate for us.
“I’m still upset about [the playoff loss]. This was a good result. I’m happy.”
The Sea Kings started strong, taking a 5-1 lead in the opening period. Eliza Britt recorded three of those goals, the first in transition after coming up with a steal, the second with a skip shot from the top, and the third from the left side.
The most impressive goal in the first period belonged to CdM’s Maddie Musselman. With nine-tenths of a second left in the period, the junior scored from way out. She was closer to the middle of the pool than the goalie.
The Sea Kings took advantage of a freshman goalie. Joie Ruiz started in goal for the Dons, who played without Siena Goggia (thumb) for the third straight match. Goggia stood in the way of CdM moving on to the semifinals of the playoffs last year, making 10 saves.
With Goggia watching from the bench, CdM poured it on. Britt and Grace Morgan led the Sea Kings with four goals apiece, while Musselman added three goals to go with two assists and two steals. Sarah Lawson recorded two goals, and Kaybree Albright, Shannon Frome and Bridgett Storm each had one goal.
“Almost everything they shot went in,” said Walsh, who also saw Musselman and Morgan convert a five-meter penalty shot against his Dons.
“[In our playoff game with CdM] last year, I felt like, you know, it was just Musselman at the five-meter line, just trying to draw fouls, and, you know, that was a lot of their offense. They also had their center [Marina Coskinas] that they lost [to graduation]. I was expecting more of that.”
While the Sea Kings showed a more balanced attack, Walsh’s other expectation rang true. The Sea Kings put Musselman on Kristina Garcia, Walsh’s secret weapon in last year’s postseason game against CdM.
Garcia finished with five goals, one more than in last year’s quarterfinal contest at CdM. But Garcia’s final four goals on Friday came with the Sea Kings in control and on their way to the semifinals of the Holiday Cup.
Goalie Heidi Ritner, who had nine saves against the Dons, helped CdM win both of its games on the first day of the two-day tournament. The Sea Kings beat Long Beach Wilson, 9-3, in the opener. Next is Foothill, a team CdM defeated, 6-3, in the third-place match at last year’s Holiday Cup.
“They’re super deep,” Sinclair said of the Knights. “They have one of the best centers [in Cana Manzella] in the country. It will be a battle. It will be fun. They’re really physical. It will be a good test for us.”
