Newport strikes early and wins it for Lunde

NEWPORT BEACH — Playing against familiar foe El Toro High provided some motivation. Playing for the late Gray Lunde, a former Newport Harbor player, provided some more.

And, exacting revenge also felt good for the Newport Harbor frosh-soph boys’ water polo team, which won the Gray Lunde Invitational on Saturday with a 4-3 victory over El Toro at Newport Harbor.

Zach Lucas, Dane Sequiera, Kristopher Craib and Matt Russell all scored goals for Newport Harbor (20-3), which avenged a 7-6 loss to El Toro in last year’s championship game.

The Sailors also beat El Toro, 1-0, in the championship game of the Charger Cup on Sept. 23.

“This is our tournament, and I think it just happened that we wanted it more today,” said Sailors goalie Nick Holbrook, who made eight saves. “Everyone wanted it so much and we played our hearts out.”

Lunde was a Newport Harbor High freshman water polo player who died in 1995 of a heart ailment at age 14. In remembrance, his coach, Les Cutler, led an effort to rename the tournament from the Halloween Invitational to the Gray Lunde Invitational.

Cutler, now the tournament coordinator, spoke to this year’s Newport Harbor team before the tournament began about its importance. The Sailors have now won it three of the last four years.

“Being a memorial cup, we’re not only playing for our program,” Newport Harbor Coach Brian Melstrom said. “We’re also playing in remembrance of Gray Lunde. I think our desire was just a little bit more than El Toro’s, and that’s why we were victorious.”

Newport, which scored a 3-1 win over Capistrano Valley in the semifinals on Saturday morning, stormed out of the gates in the championship game. Lucas scored the Sailors’ first goal with 3:38 left in the first quarter, then Sequiera added another goal from the right side with 1:25 left in the quarter.

Craib tipped in another goal with 50 seconds left in the first, stunning El Toro and giving Newport Harbor a 3-0 lead.

“We were really quite amazed,” Russell said. “I guess the water polo gods gave us luck on that, and we got those shots in. That really helped the confidence of our team.”

But El Toro came back with two goals in the second quarter, and the 3-2 Newport lead was tenuous until the fourth quarter.

That’s when Russell came off the bench and skipped a shot in with four minutes left in the game, giving the Sailors an insurance goal and a 4-2 lead.

“I couldn’t get anything at two-meters,” Russell said. “So I decided to get to the five-meters and shoot low, because the goalie was coming out high. It felt really good.”

El Toro scored a five-meter penalty shot with 34 seconds left, but Newport was able to wind down the clock after that.

Dusty Hayes had three steals for the Sailors, with Wesley Parks and Lucas adding two each.

“I’m proud of them,” Melstrom said. “There’s big expectations for this tournament, but I thought the boys played better and better as it went on and played their best game in the final.”

SEA KINGS TAKE FOURTH

The Corona del Mar frosh-soph boys’ water polo team had a day to forget at the Gray Lunde Invitational on Saturday. After losing to El Toro in the semifinals, 6-2, the Sea Kings lost, 5-1, to Capistrano Valley in the third-place game.

“With a program like CdM, it’s all or nothing,” Coach Kyle Gorham said. “When we don’t get into the finals I think it hurts the kids’ morale, but they’re young. We’ve got a lot of really talented kids who are still learning how to play.”

Corona del Mar took an early 1-0 lead in the third-place game. Carter Taylor’s steal led to a goal by Kenny Cooper, on Brian Schiefer’s assist, with 3:45 left in the first quarter.

Freshman goalie Isle Anderson made six saves for CdM (19-7).

Gray Lunde Invitational

Championship game

Newport Harbor 4, El Toro 3

Score by Quarters

Newport 3 0 0 1 — 4 El Toro 0 2 0 1 — 3

Newport -- Lucas 1, Sequiera 1, Craib 1, Russell 1. Saves -- Holbrook 8.

El Toro -- Reskusic 1, Westerfield 1, Zaccaro 1. Saves -- O’Connell 6.