Marina Wins, but Tough Game Ahead

Marina defeated top-ranked Irvine, 4-2, in a nonleague girls’ water polo game Friday at Heritage Park in Irvine, but the Vikings won’t have much time to celebrate the upset victory.

Marina, ranked third in the county, gets another test today when it plays No. 5 Rosary in a nonleague game at Golden West.

“This is great, I’m very happy and everything, but it’s not over yet,” Marina Coach Dave Carlson said.

The Vikings (13-4) are in the middle of the toughest stretch on their schedule. They played Whittier La Serna, Rosary and Santa Barbara in successive games at last weekend’s Long Beach Wilson tournament, then play Irvine (13-3) and Rosary this weekend before opening league play against Los Alamitos on Wednesday.

Rosary is the top-ranked team in Division III, La Serna is ranked fifth in the same division, Irvine is ranked third in Division I, Los Alamitos fifth, and Santa Barbara, which defeated Marina in overtime, 3-2, in the championship game of last week’s tournament, is the top-ranked team in Division II.

“We want to go into CIF with good games under our belt,” Carlson said. “Whether we win or lose, we want to play the toughest teams.”

Marina’s freshman class of Erin Wilson, Cara Chlebicki and Kendra Shanley were the difference, accounting for two goals and two assists between them. Senior Rebecca Miller scored the other two goals for the Vikings.

Miller scored off a pass from Chlebicki with 16 seconds remaining in the first quarter for Marina’s first goal, and Shanley made it 2-0 on the Vikings’ first possession of the second.

Irvine’s Erin Lezak scored the first of her two goals with seven seconds left in the second quarter to cut the lead in half, but Miller scored her second in the third quarter and Wilson added another early in the fourth to give Marina a 4-1 lead.