Gray Lunde Tournament: Newport satisfied with second

Steve Virgen

NEWPORT BEACH - Second place was good enough for the Newport Harbor

High frosh-soph water polo team. The Sailors were satisfied, and a bit

fatigued as well, to be in the final of their Gray Lunde Memorial

Tournament, a 16-team invitational in honor of Lunde, a Newport freshman

standout, who died of heart failure at poolside in 1995.

Coach Les Cutler’s Newport frosh-soph team, which captured the title

last year with a five-overtime 7-6 victory over Laguna Beach, won two

overtime games to reach the final, but lost, 5-3, to Marina Saturday at

the Sailors’ pool.

“I told the kids, they played great for (Lunde),” Cutler said. “They

played at a level that honored his good name.”

The Sailors fell behind early to Marina, 3-0, with 3:46 left in the

first half. However, Newport made a mini-comeback when Bryan Auer drew an

ejection and the Sailors took advantage of the six-on-five. Morgan

Laidlaw smacked a shot off the crossbar and Auer recovered the rebound to

net the Sailors’ first goal. Marina answered with a goal to retain its

three-goal lead, 4-1.

With five seconds left before halftime, Laidlaw drew an ejection and

Cutler called a timeout to set up one last play. After the timeout,

Laidlaw attacked the cage and threw in a goal from about four meters out

with no time left.

The Vikings held their lead in the second half. Auer added his second

goal when he scored on a four-meter penalty shot with 42 seconds left in

the game.

The Sailors earned a 4-3 overtime victory over Esperanza in the

semifinals. Tanner Hill scored a goal with 3:34 left in regulation, that

would send the game into overtime. Laidlaw ended the game with a goal

coming 1:45 into the overtime.

On Friday, Newport defeated Tustin, 7-3, and then scored a 5-4

double-overtime win over Los Alamitos to advance to the semifinals.

Meanwhile, Corona del Mar’s frosh-soph squad ran off three straight

victories after dropping its opening game and finished ninth in the

tourney. Coach Tim Salvino’s Sea Kings lost to Marina, 5-3, Thursday. CdM

came back later and defeated Capistrano Valley, 7-1. In Saturday’s action, the Sea Kings recorded victories over Royal, 12-1, and Tustin,

10-1, at CdM. Sophomore Nadeem Hakim led Corona with 13 goals in the

tournament, while Spencer Pirdy notched eight and Thomas Pearson added

four. Hakim scored five goals in the win over Tustin, for ninth place.

GRAY LUNDE MEMORIAL FROSH-SOPH TOURNAMENT

Final

Marina 5, Newport Harbor 3

Marina 2 2 0 1 - 5

Newport Harbor 0 2 0 1 - 3

M - Luth 2, Parker 1, Wagner 1, Pacheco 1. Saves - Hoag 5.

NH - Auer 2, Laidlaw 1. Saves - Robinson 8.

Ninth-place Game

Corona del Mar 10, Tustin 1

Tustin 0 0 1 0 - 1

Corona del Mar 3 0 2 5 - 10

CdM - Hakim 5, Pirdy 2, Sheets 1, Pearson 1, Buhagiar 1. Saves -

Sanford 6, Blackford 3.