Battle of the giants

Bryce Alderton

The scary thing for teams facing high school boys water polo

strongholds Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor this season is that

they both will obviously improve.

Both Jason Lynch and Tim Salvino, coaches at Newport Harbor and

Corona del Mar, respectively, were generally pleased with the efforts

of their teams, but said there is room for improvement after the two

teams squared-off in a scrimmage at CdM Saturday.

No score was kept and the teams played four 10-minute quarters

with a running clock.

Saturday’s scrimmage was the first time Salvino’s Sea Kings have

played as a group in about three weeks.

“They did a nice job, we’re still working on chemistry and

rotations,” said Salvino, who refereed the scrimmage. “We need to

work on our (man-down situations), but it’s great to have a situation

like this because we will improve a lot more going against higher

competition like (Newport). Jason has done a nice job with them.”

Newport scrimmaged after working out earlier in the morning, and

Lynch said fatigue played a factor since his team has been swimming,

weight-lifting and conditioning six days a week, but felt good about

his team’s overall performance, specifically with a man advantage and

the front-court offense.

“The 6-on-5 looked pretty good and our front-court was definitely

solid,” Lynch said. “We need to work on our counterattack in both

directions but we have a well-balanced group. We’re right there with

(CdM).”

After the four periods, the teams each performed 6-on-5

man-advantage drills.

Newport seniors Brent Armstrong and Ross Sinclair each scored

goals during the man-advantage scenarios.

Newport’s speed quickened after what Lynch said was a slow first

period. Armstrong stole the ball and threw to Sinclair, swimming down

the right side of the pool, who then flipped the ball into the goal.

Both teams played their first unit in the first period, then sent

the second team in the pool in the second, and alternated teams the

final two periods.

On several occasions the Sea Kings stole the ball in their own

zone and made outlet passes to streaking 2-meter forwards such as

seniors Artie Dorr and Mann, who connected for a goal on a 6-on-5

situation as Dorr got the ball in the CdM zone then fired to a

streaking Mann, who whipped the ball into the goal.

Jason DiRocco netted four goals with Mann and Griffin Gentry each

adding three goals apiece for the Sea Kings during the scrimmage.

Nadim Hakim put the ball in the net twice while Dorr, Ryan Moore,

Jason DiRocco, Ali Kattan and Scott Street each tallied a goal. John

Money added three assists to go along with three steals.

Newport scored five times during the scrimmage, including goals by

seniors Ross Sinclair, Brent Armstrong and Charlie Hockenberry.

Senior Nathan Weiner added one assist.

Going up against the likes of Dorr and Mann didn’t faze the

freshman Jorth, according to Lynch.

“He seemed to be comfortable out there, not intimidated at all,”

Lynch said. “Bryan (Auer) did a great job defensively as well.”

CdM goalie Tyler Brundage made four saves while splitting time

with Beau Stockstill, who also made four saves.

Newport sophomore Michael Robinson and senior Nathan McLain shared

goaltending duties and made four and three saves, respectively.

Salvino said before the scrimmage began that he wanted to use the

time for training purposes and to “get the rust out” since most of

the CdM players last played in a competitive situation against an

opponent since the club water polo season ended in late July. CdM has

been training together since August 26.

The Sea Kings’ transition offense resulted in several goals and

scoring chances, which pleased Salvino.

“They were anticipating going from defense to offense well,”

Salvino said. “We’ve been working on that a lot in practice. It’s a

lot easier to score in transition than in the front court.”

Both the Sailors and the Sea Kings now have two days to prepare

for their first matches of the season.

The Sailors will face No. 1-ranked Long Beach Wilson at Belmont

Plaza in Long Beach Tuesday evening (6:15), while the Sea Kings

travel to Saddleback College in Mission Viejo to battle host

Capistrano Valley at 4 p.m.