Water polo: Tars roll into semifinals

Richard Dunn

NEWPORT BEACH - Like the one-two punch of Shaq and Kobe, Newport

Harbor High’s boys water polo team has an all-star tandem in Peter Belden

and Ryan Cook.

And, with last year’s All-CIF Southern Section Division I selections

at the controls for the Sailors Tuesday in the CIF Division I

quarterfinals against visiting Loyola, a big splash was made on the way

to a possible championship.

“(Belden and Cook) really feed off each other,” Newport Harbor co-head

coach Brian Kreutzkamp said, following his top-seeded team’s 10-3 victory

over the Cubs (18-5).

“We really needed Belden to play defense on (Loyola two-meter

standout) Nick Andrejich and he did a good job on him, and we needed Ryan

Cook to have a big scoring game as our primary set man.”

Andrejich, the starting hole man on the U.S. junior national team, was

held to one goal as Loyola was shut out in the second and fourth

quarters.

Loyola, the Mission League’s No. 2 representative behind

Harvard/Westlake, took the lead after one quarter, 2-1. But the Sailors

rallied for a slim 3-2 halftime lead, then outscored Loyola in the second

half, 7-1.

Cook scored six goals, while Belden added seven steals, four goals and

three assists, including a well-timed lob to Cook on the counterattack in

the third quarter, which led to an easy goal with 2:20 on the clock as

Newport Harbor (27-5) began to pull away.

“Newport Harbor has one of the best junior programs in the country for

water polo,” said Loyola Coach Marko Pintoric, a former USC standout who

plans to return next year as a Trojan graduate assistant, thus making his

team’s loss to Harbor the final game of his five-year coaching stint.

“Newport Harbor is by far the best team we’ve played, certainly the

best defensively.”

Seniors Joey Snelgrove and Steven Jendrusina added three assists each

for Newport Harbor, which scored two goals in the opening two minutes of

the second half for a 5-2 lead.

“We didn’t really change (our strategy) much,” Kreutzkamp said. “Our

game plan was to stay close by halftime, then try to outswim them in the

second half. Our counterattack is our best weapon.

“Early in the game, (the Cubs) could swim as fast as we could. We try

to get (teams) late in the game, and conditioning plays a part. If we sat

in a half-court offense, they’d beat us, because they’re a lot stronger.”

To end the third quarter, Loyola misfired on a shot attempt that hit

the crossbar and bounced to near mid-pool, where Belden outsprinted two

Cubs to the loose ball and scored on a breakaway with 1:03 to play for a

7-3 Newport edge.

Starting goalie Brandon McLain had nine saves for Harbor, while Shawn

Johnson had five saves, mostly in the fourth quarter.

It was a physical game that featured 14 ejections (Loyola had eight),

including a double ejection in the second quarter to set up a face-off,

won by Newport’s Brian Pentz.

Belden scored both Newport goals in the second quarter, once on a

tap-in after a pass from Jendrusina and once on a man-up advantage with

0:50 left, giving the Tars a 3-2 edge and their first lead of the game.

Belden scored on Newport Harbor’s first series of the second half,

just after the referee waved in an ejected Loyola player on a man-up

situation for the Sailors.

The hosts made it a blowout in the final quarter, with Cook and Belden

scoring on six-on-five advantages and Cook tallying the final goal with

2:17 left on an assist from Snelgrove.

Newport Harbor will play El Toro/Villa Park in the semifinals Saturday

at an alternate site. Kreutzkamp said it’s likely both Division I

semifinal games will be played at the Los Alamitos Navy Base.

CIF Division I quarterfinalsNewport Harbor 10, Loyola 3Score by

QuartersLoyola 02 00 01 00 -- 03Newport Harbor 01 02 04

03 -- 10Loyola scoring: Andrejich 1, Rollo 1, Fucci 1. Saves: Moore

3.Newport Harbor scoring: Cook 6, Belden 4. Saves: McLain 9, Johnson 3.