CdM settles for third

Bryce Alderton

Unselfish passing and a defense that held up under pressure proved

enough for the Corona del Mar High girls water polo team to defeat

Santa Margarita, 8-6, in a third-place game at the Newport

Harbor-Corona del Mar Holiday Cup Saturday at Newport Harbor High.

Six of the Sea Kings’ eight goals came via the assist. Seniors

Daniela DiGiacomo (three) and Christina Hewko (two) paced the Corona

passing game with Danielle Carlson (one) also contributing in the

assist department.

Carlson helped more so on the scoring end, leading the Sea Kings

(7-1) with four goals as they built a lead as big as 6-3 with 2:39

left in the third period.

The Eagles (5-3) wouldn’t get closer than two goals the rest of

the game as CdM senior Brittany Bowlus made it a three-goal cushion

with 3:31 left after taking a pass from Hewko in set and rifling it

into the net. Hewko and Bowlus were both first-team All-CIF Southern

Section Division IV selections a year ago and will continue their

water polo careers at Stanford and UCLA, respectively, in the fall.

Corona continued its swarming defense as of late in holding Santa

Margarita to a 1-for-7 clip on man-advantage situations.

Santa Margarita’s only lead came at 1-0 when senior Erika Figge, a

member of the U.S. under-20 national team, scored the first of her

team-high three goals on a pass from sophomore Kacy Kunkel. Figge

also tallied three assists.

“I never felt comfortable against Santa Margarita,” said CdM Coach

Aaron Chaney. “They have too many good players. One of the things I

told the girls before the game was that (Santa Margarita) was going

to come out with a vengeance after this morning.”

The Eagles lost to Newport, 10-8, in the semifinals earlier

Saturday while CdM lost to Foothill, 10-7, in what Chaney said was

the best game a Sea King team has played in his 2 1/2 years as an

assistant under former head man John Vargas and taking over head

coaching duties before last season.

Corona tied the Knights, 7-7, in the fourth quarter and had a

player-advantage opportunity but couldn’t capitalize and Foothill

advanced to the finals where it beat Newport, 8-7.

“They exercised a lot of patience on offense,” Chaney said of his

players following the Foothill game.

CdM forced Santa Margarita to the perimeter and the Eagles several

times had to throw up desperation shots to beat the 35-second shot

clock. The shot clock horn sounded three times for the Eagles.

Meanwhile, Corona’s defenders made entry passes hard to come by

for Santa Margarita. Junior two-meter defenders Vivian Liao and Katya

Eadington converged to break up an pass toward the middle of the pool

in the CdM zone in the second quarter while freshman Camille Hewko

caught up to Sara Hamilton in the third period. The CdM defender used

her right arm to thwart a shot attempt by Hamilton, who had gotten

free down the pool before the Sea King caught up.

Christina Hewko tallied one goal and had two assists while Jessica

Harkins (one), DiGiacomo (one) and Bowlus (one) all tallied scores

for CdM. DiGiacomo had three assists for the victors and sophomore

goalkeeper Brittany Fullen made five saves.

In Corona del Mar’s 10-7 loss to eventual champion Foothill

earlier Saturday, Liao and Harkins each had two goals while

DiGiacomo, Bowlus and Carlson all scored one goal.

Newport Harbor-Corona del Mar

Holiday Cup

CdM 8, Santa Margarita 6

Score by Quarters

S. Margarita 1 2 1

2 -- 6

CdM 3 2 1 2

-- 8

Santa Margarita -- Figge 3, Kunkel 1, Stachowski 1, Hamilton 1. Saves -- O’Connor, none.

Corona del Mar -- Carlson 4, Christina Hewko 1, Harkins

1, DiGiacomo 1, Bowlus 1. Saves -- Fullen, 5.