Smooth sailing for the Sailors, 12-4

Richard Dunn

It was no surprise for Newport Harbor High girls water polo coach

Bill Barnett to see his highly regarded squad build an early

commanding lead, considering how frequently the Sailors play Marina

in the summer.

“They’re a very young team,” Barnett said of the Vikings (0-2),

after his hosting team rolled to a 12-4 nonleague victory Saturday in

the season opener for Newport Harbor, which is not a young team.

“We have a lot of seniors (10 out of 16 on the roster),” Barnett

added. “We have a good team, but we don’t know how far we’ll go this

season. It depends on how hard they work and how they apply

themselves.”

Barnett’s Sailors appeared to apply themselves quite well in the

first half as they managed an 8-0 halftime lead, then outscored

Marina in the third quarter, 2-0, before the veteran and former men’s

U.S. Olympic coach pulled his starters.

“Newport’s stacked this year,” Marina Coach Scott Penttila said.

“We knew it would be a tough game.”

UCLA-bound senior Jenna Murphy led Newport Harbor with three goals

and a steal in the first quarter as the Sailors, ranked No. 2 in the

Southland by the Los Angeles Times, swam to a 4-0 edge after seven

minutes.

Seniors Ashley Parole and Annie Wight and junior Jessica Ball each

scored two goals for Newport Harbor, while senior Peggy Beebe, junior

Carolyn Conway and sophomore Anne Belden added goals for the winners.

Murphy, a left-hander, scored from set on an assist from Belden

for the game’s first goal, then Murphy scored again with 3:30 on the

clock after she made a steal and swam by herself to the other end,

finishing the play by beating Marina goalkeeper Bree Valbuena (five

saves and six steals) after a fake to the left and going right.

Wight scored with 1:53 left in the first quarter on the

counterattack, then Murphy added her third goal with 0:37 remaining

on the counterattack, after taking a long pass from Ball.

“I thought we missed a lot of easy shots,” Barnett said, “and we

threw the ball away a lot. We were putting the ball in a position

where the goalkeeper could steal it. You don’t throw the ball in the

front of the cage like that.”

Newport outscored Marina by the same count in the second quarter,

4-0, as Parole opened with a counterattack goal. Ball scored with

4:27 to play in the first half on a pass from Parole, then Wight

scored perhaps the most impressive goal of the contest after tangling

with Marina’s Sara Bastien. After Wight and Bastien spun in the water

like alligators, a fired-up Wight won another physical battle at two

meters when she scored around Marina’s Whitney Gaglio with 3:31 on

the clock.

Conway scored Harbor’s eighth goal of the first half on the

counterattack with 0:20 left, then Beebe and Belden scored in the

third quarter as the hosts built a 10-0 lead. Conway and Paige

Lansing added assists. Newport goalie Terin Cottam recorded two

saves, while Raelyn Ritchie had two saves in the fourth quarter.

In the frosh-soph game, Newport Harbor defeated Marina, 14-0, as

Amanda Barto led the way with four goals. Jessie Womble and Melissa

Wheeler added three goals each, while Lane Fowler contributed two and

Samantha Klippert and Leah Robertson one each, Coach Les Cutler said.

Nonleague

Newport Harbor 12, Marina 4

Score by Quarters

Marina 0 0 0 4

-- 4

Newport 4 4 2 2

-- 12

Marina -- Alpan 2, Byrne 1, Wong 1. Saves -- Valbuena

5.

Newport -- Murphy 3, Wight 2, Ball 2, Parole 2, Belden

1, Conway 1, Beebe 1. Saves -- Cottam 2, Ritchie 2.