Girls’ Water Polo: Sailors win opener

The last time that Sam Bailey coached against Bill Barnett, it was a Back Bay rivalry match for the 2013 CIF Southern Section Division 1 title.

Bailey’s CdM team edged Barnett’s Newport Harbor squad on that night. The two coaches met again Wednesday at Newport Harbor High, Bailey with Beckman now and guiding his Patriots against the Sailors in a Division 1 first-round match.

This time, Bailey might have coached against Barnett in the last game of his legendary 49-year career.

Newport Harbor routed Beckman, 14-2, but the Sailors continue on in CIF without their head coach.

Barnett, in his final season coaching at Newport Harbor, is undergoing another hip surgery Thursday, assistant coach Brian Melstrom said Wednesday night. Melstrom said Barnett will miss Saturday’s Division 1 quarterfinal game against Santa Barbara San Marcos, scheduled for 11 a.m. at Newport Harbor.

It’s certainly possible that Barnett, who had a hip replaced last year, coached his final game for the Sailors on Wednesday. The 72-year-old also missed two games, including the annual Battle of the Bay game, in December after undergoing two separate hip surgeries. He also has had back and neck surgeries in recent years.

“I think there were some complications with the previous [hip] surgery,” said Melstrom, who will lead Newport Harbor as the acting head coach in the quarterfinals Saturday. “It just doesn’t seem like the hip’s taking, that the body is taking it very well ... I’m sure he’s upset in more ways than we can imagine. Hopefully, if all goes well, he’ll be back on the pool deck by Monday.”

If the Sailors win Saturday, they’d play in the Division 1 semifinals Wednesday night at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center, most likely against Foothill.

The news about Barnett overshadowed a stellar effort by the No. 3-seeded Sailors (22-6), the Sunset League champions, against Beckman (16-8), the second-place team from the Pacific Coast League. Newport Harbor overcame a slow start, holding just a 1-0 lead late in the first quarter before pulling away.

Beckman junior goalie Maddy Simonian played well in the opening frame, recording four saves and a steal. But the Sailors did take a 6-1 lead at halftime behind a varied scoring attack. For the game, senior center Chanel Schilling led Newport Harbor with four goals. Rachel Whitelegge had three goals and six steals, while team captain Kate Pipkin had three goals and three assists.

Katie Kearns scored twice for Newport Harbor, while Carlee Kapana made nine saves and Maddy Kanzler added one.

Barnett was able to put in his three junior varsity call-ups at the end. Sophomore Claire Tafoya and freshman Jessica Lynch each scored a goal, and sophomore Quincy Morgan had a pair of steals.

Newport Harbor overcame a spirited student cheering section by Beckman. The Sailors got some reinforcements in the third quarter, when members of the boys’ lacrosse team came to watch the game for the few minutes and answered the Patriots’ fans chants.

“We haven’t had a game like that in a while, where there’s been a big crowd and we had to play through it,” Whitelegge said. “I really enjoyed it. It added toward the aspect of [it being the] first game of CIF.”

Senior Nikki Daurio and junior Cara Vejsicky (five steals) scored the goals for Beckman. The Patriots also had a CdM girls’ water polo alumna, Harvard graduate Elise Molnar, on the bench as an assistant coach this year.

Beckman had its best year in school history, Bailey said, finishing second in league for the first time. And the Patriots are young, with only one senior starter in Daurio, who is also bound for Harvard.

“I feel like we were in it for a quarter and a half here,” Bailey said. “Ultimately, the experience broke it open for Newport. I think that’s a lot of it. At Beckman, we’re dealing with a group of kids who are coming in as freshmen to play water polo. In the Newport areas, the kids have been in the water since they were 5 years old.”

The Sailors will definitely want to avoid another slow start Saturday against San Marcos, which beat Rosary, 13-9, in another first-round game. The teams have played once this year, with Newport Harbor winning, 9-3, in the third-place game of the Irvine Southern California Championships on Feb. 7.

“At any moment, it can be done,” Pipkin said. “Our journey can end. [Graduate] Heidi [Fults] said to me last year, at any moment you can be done. You have to put every ounce of effort you can into the game, because the end of the road is on the horizon.”

The Sailors hope that isn’t already the case for their legendary head coach.