Girls water polo: Sailors fall to El Toro in classic

Tony Altobelli

LAKE FOREST - The gas tanks were on fumes, the goals appeared

smaller than the ball itself and the goalies were both on top of their

games.

It was going to take an unusual-type of goal to decide Tuesday’s CIF

Southern Section Division I second round matchup between visiting Newport

Harbor and El Toro.

Finally, with 10 seconds left in the fifth overtime period, the

Chargers got the fortunate deflection on a shot to defeat the exhausted

Sailors, 7-6.

After 28 minutes of regulation and 14 minutes and 50 seconds of

overtime action, El Toro’s Brittany Ditto sent a shot toward the Sailors’

goal. The ball deflected off a Newport player and found its way into the

net to end the marathon game.

“She (the Newport player) was just doing her job in trying to block

the shot,” Newport Coach Bill Barnett said. “It just took an unlucky turn

and went in. It looked like it was going to be an easy save, too. It’s

goals like that which usually win games like this.”

Erin Ball and her sister, Jessica, each scored two goals for Newport

(22-8), while Katherine Belden and Jenna Booth each added single goals.

According to Barnett, it wasn’t the goal in the fifth overtime which

took the Sailors out of the playoffs. It was the team’s play early in the

contest.

“We made some stupid mental mistakes early in the game that gave El

Toro three easy goals,” he said. “If we don’t make those mistakes,

perhaps it’s a different story.”

Newport trailed, 5-3, early in the third period before tying the game

with back-to-back goals by Jessica Ball. Belden and Booth each had

assists on the goals.

Both teams had opportunities to score in the fourth period, but were

denied by the goalies. Newport’s Heather Deyden finished with 11 saves,

while El Toro’s Jessica Hardie had 10.

After a scoreless three-minute overtime period, Ditto found the

upper-right corner of the goal for a 6-5 El Toro advantage with 1:33

remaining.

Newport managed to tie the game with 29 seconds left when Booth took a

pass from Erin Kelly Bates and found the back of the net, forcing

sudden-death overtime.

El Toro appeared to get the break it needed when Deyden was called for

a foul, forcing Newport to have no goalie in the final nine seconds of

the first sudden-death period.

Newport quickly threw a wall of players in front of the goal and

forced El Toro’s Keala Carter to shoot high. Her shot rang off the

crossbar as time expired and Newport dodged a major bullet.

Belden played some excellent defense in the second sudden-death period

with a block and two steals. She finished with five steals in the game.

Both teams failed to score and the game continued.

“We’ve got to give credit to El Toro’s defense as well,” Barnett said.

“They did a great job of taking away our opportunities. Plus, we were

pretty tired as the game wore on.”

Ball had Newport’s best chance to end the game in the third

sudden-death overtime period, but her shot was kept out by a lunging

Hardie.

“I don’t remember being involved in a girls water polo game that

lasted that long before,” Barnett said. “We tried everything we could

think of to get that winning goal, but we just couldn’t find the winner.”

CIF DIVISION I PLAYOFFS

Second round

El Toro 7, Newport Harbor 6

Score by periods

Newport 2 1 2 0 0 1 0 0 0 - 6

El Toro 1 3 1 0 0 1 0 0 1 - 7

Newport - E. Ball 2, J. Ball 2, Belden 1, Booth 1. Saves - Deyden 11.

El Toro - Ditto 2, Sonnenfeld 2, Nicholson 2, Carter 1. Saves - Hardie

10.