Morgan helps CdM carry on tradition
Two of the toughest sports to play are arguably water polo and rugby.
Don’t tell that to the Morgan kids.
Corona del Mar High senior Grace Morgan plays water polo, as does her sophomore sister Kelly. As for the youngest sibling, eighth-grader Morgan Morgan III, he plays rugby on a club team coached by dad Morgan Morgan Jr., who played rugby at Stanford. (The kids’ grandfather, Morgan Sr., passed away a couple of years ago).
“We always joke around about which sport is harder or more rough,” Grace Morgan said.
Nobody could question Grace’s commitment level as a four-year player at CdM, one of the top high school programs in the country. What could be questioned was why she hadn’t scored more goals this season so far.
She said she became more of a passer early in the season, after CdM junior Maddie Musselman returned from playing with the U.S. national team.
Heading into a CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal showdown against Orange Lutheran, the Cal-bound Morgan had just 33 goals on the season. A respectable total, but a distant third on the team to co-captains Musselman and Eliza Britt.
Orange Lutheran Coach Steve Carrera game-planned to stop Musselman and the Princeton-bound Britt.
Boy, did Morgan step up.
The Athlete of the Week matched a season-high with five goals in CdM’s 11-8 victory on Feb. 21, adding an assist and a penalty shot drawn. This was the game that she had been waiting for. After the game she remained excited, giddy even.
Many had picked against the No. 4-seeded Sea Kings in the hyped game, even at their home pool, but Morgan helped CdM deliver. She had two goals and an assist in the first quarter, as the Sea Kings opened up a 5-2 advantage.
“During the game I wasn’t keeping track or anything,” Morgan said. “I was just playing in the moment, letting the game come to me. After the game, [Coach] Ross [Sinclair] was like, ‘That’s what I’ve been waiting for.’ Then Maddie Musselman came up to me afterward and hugged me. She was like, ‘That was awesome.’ So that was definitely really exciting.”
Morgan and the Sea Kings’ season ended in a 12-5 semifinal loss to top-seeded Laguna Beach on Wednesday night at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center. Still, the quarterfinal win over the Lancers was huge for CdM (23-7). Morgan understood why.
She appreciates the history of the CdM program. In 2014, the Sea Kings lost a CIF quarterfinal match to Santa Barbara in sudden death, despite some more heroics by Morgan with a pair of overtime goals. The loss stung Morgan, as it meant a quick end to her first year as a starter.
“It was one of the lowest points of my life,” Morgan said. “We had a 14-year streak of making it to the semis. That was kind of the tradition, and we broke that and we lost to a team we had already beaten. I took it really hard. The fact that we made it to semis [this year] was one of my goals, and I was really happy about that. That was why I was so happy.”
She’s also happy about going to Cal. As a freshman at CdM, Morgan said her senior “buddy” that year was Cal-bound Pippa Saunders, who is now a junior for the Golden Bears.
Morgan shuffled between varsity and junior varsity that freshman year. Her sophomore year was the year that CdM won its first and only Division 1 title, though Morgan rarely saw the water.
“It was more like a spectator position,” she said of being on a team with talented seniors like Cassidy Papa (now at Stanford), Ally McCormick (BYU for swimming) and the twin transfers from Greece, Stephania and Ioanna Haralabidis (USC).
“I just got to learn a lot. That was really fun. I just got to play defense in practice, but it was still really fun. It was really inspirational, because I got to experience first-hand how hard you have to work to reach that goal. I got to defend the Greeks, and I think that made me a better player.”
Sinclair sees Morgan, who finished third on the Sea Kings in both goals (40) and assists (23), as a player who will continue to improve in college, calling her one of the hardest workers on the team during his two years at CdM. She is also blessed with a very hard, if unorthodox, shot.
“She’s deceptive,” Sinclair said. “She shoots with her body, which is great, and she shoots with her arm and wrist in another direction. It helps her beat shot-blockers. It helps her move a goalie one way and then shoot the other, and it also puts a lot of pace behind the ball. She shoots like a European. It’s hard to teach that.”
What will be hard for Grace to teach her dad to do? As a Stanford alumnus, it’s not exactly natural for him to root for Cal.
It’s another fun Morgan family argument. At least Grace’s mom Liz, the CdM Girls’ Water Polo Board president, went to the University of the Pacific. She can play the neutral, Switzerland type of role in this one.
“[My dad] was like, ‘Ugh, I’m going to have to start rooting for the Bears now,’” Grace Morgan said. “For Christmas, we got this ‘House divided’ flag. It was really funny.”
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Grace Morgan
Born: Dec. 11, 1996
Hometown: Newport Beach
Height: 5-foot-9
Sport: Water polo
Year: Senior
Coach: Ross Sinclair
Favorite food: Buttered pasta
Favorite movie: The “Harry Potter” series
Favorite athletic moment: Helping CdM Aquatics win gold at the Pan Pacific Youth Water Polo Festival last July in New Zealand.
Week in review: Morgan tied a season-high with five goals as CdM beat Orange Lutheran, 11-8, in a CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal game Feb. 21.
