CdM goalkeeper’s next stop is USC

Sea King girls’ water polo standout Tumua Anae will join her sister Jordan next year with USC’s Women of Troy. Tumua Anae, who has emerged as a star goalkeeper for the Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team in just her first season starting on varsity, has orally committed to play at USC next season, she said on Saturday.

She’ll join her sister, Jordan Anae, who is a freshman on the USC women’s water polo team.

“It’s a big relief,” Anae said. “It’s a really good program. I’m very excited about it.”

Is she looking forward to playing with her sister?

“It should be fun,” Anae said. “I’m sure she’ll have a lot to teach me. It’s a comfort to know somebody in the program.”

As a first-year starter, Anae showed right away this season that she wouldn’t be a weak link on a Corona del Mar squad that has won four consecutive CIF titles. She tallied 14 saves, many from point-blank, in Corona del Mar’s 7-6 overtime victory over Back Bay rival Newport Beach on Dec. 21.

Anae played two years of junior water polo before entering high school, but then concentrated on swimming. She didn’t take up water polo again until the summer before her junior year of high school.

She quickly blossomed into a solid goalie, making big saves at the right times and unleashing perfect passes on counterattacks.

“She picked up the position pretty fast,” Corona del Mar Coach Aaron Chaney said.

After the Sea Kings reached the finals of the Irvine Southern California Tournament Saturday, the 5-foot-11 Anae was named to the all-tournament team.

Anae is the second Newport-Mesa area girls’ water polo star to commit to USC. Newport Harbor’s Kally Lucas, who also was an All-Irvine Southern California Tournament selection, previously signed to play for a USC team that went 25-5 and finished third at the NCAA Championships last season.

Anae can sign her national letter of intent with USC on April 12.