Girls’ Water Polo: CdM pulls away
Nearly all of their friends are out of town, but members of the Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team have work to do this week during Newport-Mesa Unified School District’s “ski week.”
The goal of a CIF Southern Section Division 1 title makes it easy not to lose focus. And the Sea Kings are having fun to boot.
“I think it’s even better,” CdM senior Grace Morgan said of staying home for the week-long vacation. “We just hang out together, watch movies and get food. We’re all together for ski week ... who needs to go skiing anyway? It’s just dangerous.”
The Sea Kings did not face much danger in their Division 1 first-round game Wednesday. Seven different players scored as CdM romped over Edison, 13-2, at the CdM pool.
But the No. 4-seeded Sea Kings (22-6) know their quarterfinal game will be much tougher. They will play host to No. 5 Orange Lutheran on Saturday. CdM Coach Ross Sinclair said the game time is tentatively scheduled for 3:15 p.m.
Sinclair said he did like the intensity that his squad showed Wednesday in a game that was very physical early on.
“I’m happy with where we’re at right now,” Sinclair said. “I think the girls are fired up. We have a good senior class that’s ready to end with a bang, you know. You talk about the legacy of this program, and these girls are playing with that intensity and fire to carry that, go out and be a team that people remember for good reasons.”
Junior Maddie Musselman led CdM with four goals, all in the second half, while three players — Eliza Britt, Kaybree Albright and Morgan — scored two each. Jaleh Moaddeli, Sarah Lawson and Chloe Harbilas added single goals for CdM, while Heidi Ritner and fourth-quarter goalie Erin Tharp each made three saves.
The first half wasn’t as fun for Musselman, who took a ball to the face in the first quarter while going for a field block. She got a bloody nose and wanted to stay in, but the referee made her exit the game since she was still bleeding. She missed the final three-plus minutes of the quarter.
But she came out firing in the third quarter, helping to widen a 5-1 halftime lead for the Sea Kings. Musselman scored three goals in the final three minutes of the quarter, two on the counterattack. The last one, at the buzzer from about six meters, gave CdM a 10-1 lead entering the final quarter.
“[Having to leave the game] kind of pissed her off, which was good,” Sinclair said. “She played with some fire and was really aggressive on that counterattack. I talked with her about that this last week, about really taking that one-on-one game to the next level in the right moments. The counterattack open water is when she’s deadly, so we need to get that ball into her hand, and she was great. Heidi and Erin, both goalies, were delivering great passes.”
Senior Lyndsie Williams led Edison (14-15), the third-place team from the Sunset League, by scoring both goals. Williams did so despite being ejected twice in the first quarter, both of the exclusions earned by CdM junior center Bridgett Storm.
Senior goalie Sierra Page had four saves and three steals for the Chargers, and senior Delaney Cleveland also had three steals. But Edison was held scoreless in all eight of its power-play opportunities.
“There was a lot of activity and communication, which was really good,” Sinclair said. “We stress defense, and the girls bought into that and it started to ignite our offense. We got some counterattack goals and the girls started getting a little bit more fired up, started loosening up a bit. Yeah, we’re coming together right now, which is what we want. This is when we’re supposed to be playing our best, and we’re doing it right now. You still have yet to see a complete game from us, [but] we’re getting close. Hopefully we bring it on Saturday. That’s when it all unfolds.”
CdM moves on to play Orange Lutheran, which beat Santa Barbara, 12-8, in another first-round game. The Sea Kings beat the Trinity League champion Lancers in the teams’ only previous meeting this season, 10-7, in a quarterfinal game of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions on Jan. 16.
“I think we really played in sync during that game,” Morgan said. “So, we’re confident.”
