Sea Kings wear CIF crown

Steve Virgen

On their way to their third straight CIF Southern Section girls water

polo championship, the Corona del Mar High Sea Kings, coincidentally,

made it look as easy as one, two, three.

Corona del Mar, which won the CIF Division IV title two years ago,

successfully defended its Division II crown with a 13-3 victory over

Peninsula Monday night at Belmont Plaza.

The Sea Kings (22-9), Pacific Coast League champions and the

Division II top seed, dominated in every facet, especially in three

areas: the counterattack, at two meters and on defense.

Junior goalie Brittany Fullen, who recorded 15 saves, led the

defense and triggered the counterattack with accurate outlet passes.

The Sea Kings’ two-meter offense included junior Jordan Anae

(three goals), junior Katlin Kubas (two), sophomore Camille Hewko

(one) and senior Katya Eadington, who delivered a versatile game,

hitting from the outside to lead the winners with four goals.

“We have four girls who we can put in set,” said Sea King Coach

Aaron Chaney, in his third year. “I know they didn’t have four

defenders, so I knew we would score.”

And score they did. Corona del Mar came out on fire and dominated

from the outset, outscoring Peninsula, 4-0, in the first four

minutes, 35 seconds.

“We just came out ready to play,” Eadington said. “We just decided

that we were going to put all our shots away.”

Said Fullen: “All season we have been trying to come together and

play one consistent, great game and we did it. Everyone played their

best.”

Hewko seemed to be at the top of her game, drawing two four-meter

fouls and contributing two steals and one assist. She drew a

four-meter penalty 81 seconds into the contest and senior Vivian Liao

put away the resulting penalty shot.

Then, 59 seconds later, Kubas scored in set on a six-on-five

opportunity. Anae assisted. Corona del Mar went up, 3-0, when Fullen

made a save and quickly threw a pass to Eadington, who finished on

the counterattack.

Hewko capped the 4-0 run, scoring at two meters, as she shook off

a defender and made good on the assist from senior Amy Strack.

“We were just pumped to be here,” Hewko said. “We wanted to make

it three in a row.”

Liao, a senior leader, who scored two goals and handed out an

assist, said the Sea Kings made the goal of winning three straight

CIF championships at the beginning of the season.

“This feels great,” Liao said. “We built a tradition at CdM and we

wanted to keep that. We wanted to stay on top.”

The Sea Kings’ championship experience, apparently gave them an

advantage over the No. 2-seeded Panthers (25-5), making their first

CIF final appearance.

“I think our girls were a little intimidated by the CdM mystique,”

Peninsula Coach Mitch Yamamoto said. “Camille Hewko was just very

good in set. Isn’t she a sophomore? They’re just a strong team.”

Yamamoto said his goalie, senior Natalie Kim, caught an elbow

early in the first quarter and had to ice it the rest of the way.

However, he said that did not play a factor in the game.

Yamamoto said Kim was his best player and she had been stopping

roughly 75% of shots thrown her way. That is, until the Sea Kings

came her way.

“They definitely deserve to win this,” Yamamoto said. “I told my

girls they had a chance to stay with them because I thought we

matched up pretty good. But I didn’t tell them about Aaron Chaney. He

is a great coach.”

Chaney reveled in the celebration with his girls. After the final

whistle, Chaney, rather than being thrown into the pool by his

players, jumped in and came up with a smile.

He said he was concerned before the game because he sensed

something different about his team. But he wasn’t too worried.

“I just think they were tired of hearing about the game,” Chaney

said. “They were just kind of saying, ‘Yeah, coach we got it. We can

do this.’ ”

The Sea Kings handled Peninsula throughout. They led, 11-2, after

three quarters as they connected on 11 of their 18 shots.

Anae, who missed her first three shots, scored two goals in the

second quarter, and Eadington added an outside shot to put the Sea

Kings ahead, 7-1, with 28 seconds left before halftime.

Hewko drew another four-meter foul 17 seconds into the third

quarter and Liao put the penalty shot away. Kubas scored just in

front of the net on an assist from Hewko 45 seconds later.

Peninsula senior Erin O’Donnell scored her second goal on a

six-on-five opportunity, 55 seconds later, to make it, 9-2.

But Corona del Mar continued to attack with Eadington, who

delivered a skip-shot goal from about eight meters.

With 92 seconds left in the third quarter, Anae found the back of

the net on an extra-player situation, as she took the assist from

Kubas.

Eadington and senior Natalie Wayte scored in the fourth quarter.

Chaney pulled Fullen with 2:37 left, as the crowd gave her a loud

ovation.

“She was great,” Chaney said of his goalie. “Her passing was right

on.”

*--*

CIF Southern Section Division II

Final CdM 13, Peninsula 3

Score by Quarters

Peninsula 1 0 1 1 -- 3

CdM 4 3 4 2 -- 13

Peninsula -- O’Donnell 2, Santarosa 1. Saves --

Kim 5, Garreton 2. CdM -- Eadington 4, Anae 3, K.

Kubas 2, Liao 2, Hewko 1, Wayte 1. Saves --

Fullen 15.

*--*