Boys water polo: Sailors’ fourth quarter surge produces victory

Amara Aguilar

Newport Harbor High boys water polo coach Jason Lynch knew what to

expect from visiting Capistrano Valley in the first round of the CIF

Southern Section Division I Playoffs Thursday.

His inside take on the Cougars and a strong second half propelled the

Sailors to a 10-6 victory. Newport Harbor will play Harvard-Westlake in

the second round on Saturday at a site to be determined by coin flip

today.

The Sailors (15-14) not only defeated the Cougars, 13-8, a week ago,

but Lynch was the coach at Capistrano Valley for eight years until taking

over at Newport in the fall.

“It definitely gave their players extra incentive and extra emotion

because they know me and want to beat me,” Lynch said. “On the other

side, for us, we had an advantage because I know their personnel so

well.”

The Cougars opened the game with a goal by Pat Carn with 4:30 left in

the first, but the Sailors scored three unanswered goals in the second

period to take a 3-1 halftime lead.

Brent Armstrong scored the final goal of the half on a breakaway with

12 second left to give the Sailors some momentum going into the second

half.

The Sailors held a one-goal lead for most of the third quarter.

Carn took the ball across the pool and pushed it in on a breakaway

with 5:13 left in the third quarter to cut Newport Harbor’s lead to 3-2.

Michael Bury made a shot that caromed off the crossbar and into the net

to put Newport up by two goals.

But the Cougars would not be tamed just yet. Carn scored on a hard

shot up the middle to once again bring Capistrano Valley within one goal

of Newport, 4-3.

Bury tipped in a shot and Nathan Weiner capped the third quarter with

a goal from the other end of the pool to give the Sailors a 6-4 lead

going into the fourth quarter.

Newport scored four straight goals by Bury, Jonathan Huang, Weiner and

Armstrong to secure the victory.

“We continued to be patient and run our plays as a team and played

really good defense in the second half,” Lynch said. “Everyone

contributed and did their part. The defense is really what won the game.”

Newport had 17 steals and made only five turnovers.

“We had a lot of patience on offense and played really good defense,”

Lynch said. “We capitalized when we had the opportunity.”

Bury led the Sailors with four goals, followed by Weiner, who had

three. Armstrong had two goals and Huang had one to round out the

scoring. Nathan McLain made two saves to earn the victory.

Carn scored three goals to lead Capistrano Valley. A.J. Stahl had two

and Ryan Rohrbacher had one while J.J. Nahoul made eight saves for the

Cougars, who placed third in the South Coast League.

“I don’t know if we knew who they were as well as they knew who we

were and that was pretty evident,” Capistrano Valley Coach Steve Wancey

said.

CIF DIVISION I PLAYOFFS

First round

Newport Harbor 10, Capistrano Valley 6

Capistrano Valley 1 0 3 2 - 6 Newport 0 3 3 4 - 10

Capistrano Valley - Carn 3, Stahl 2, Rohrbacher 1. Saves - Nahoul 8.

Newport - Bury 4, Weiner 3, Armstrong 2, Huang 1. Saves - McLain 2.