Goalies at ease for CdM

SANTA BARBARA — Corona del Mar High goalies Kate Murphy and Kate Baldoni let their teammates do most of the work on Friday at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

The senior and the sophomore, respectively, weren’t lazy by any means, and they made the saves when they needed to.

But the Sea Kings tend to perform a lot better when there aren’t a lot of opponents’ shots on goal in the first place.

CdM used that tough-as-nails defense to its advantage, beating Coronado, 3-2, in the quarterfinals after breezing past El Toro, 8-1, in the first round of a tournament that features elite girls’ water polo teams at Santa Barbara High.

The Sea Kings (12-3), the defending tournament champions, advance to today’s semifinals. They’ll play Foothill, ranked No. 1 in CIF Southern Section Division I, at 10 a.m. at Santa Barbara High.

“Our girls are excited to be in the semifinals,” CdM Coach Aaron Chaney said. “This is a tough tournament. They came ready to play.”

The tournament championship game is scheduled for 3 p.m., also at Santa Barbara High, and just might feature Back Bay rivals CdM and Newport should they win their semifinal games.

Against San Diego Section powerhouse Coronado, the game was close throughout. But the Islanders managed just nine shots, and Murphy had to make just two saves.

CdM senior Katie Indvik provided the game-winner, the left-hander finding the near corner on a long shot with three minutes, 57 seconds left in the game. Indvik agreed that defense was king for the Sea Kings.

“It was definitely a defensive game,” Indvik said. “Our defense shined through. Paige [O’Brien] really shut them down. That accounted for a lot of it.”

O’Brien, playing two-meter defense, helped hold Coronado starters Hannah Sebenaler and Katie Estrada scoreless. Chaney said that was key, after the duo had scored a combined three goals in Coronado’s first-round win against Santa Margarita.

“All of us were really awesome on defense,” O’Brien said. “I think that’s one of our strengths; we were in unison on defense. We’re strong and we’re quick, so that’s the key.”

Cari Levine scored first for CdM, a cross-cage goal from the left with 4:39 remaining in the second quarter. But Coronado responded with Molly Patrick’s six-on-five goal later in the quarter, then added a backhanded goal from two-meters by Sabrina Anonas to take a brief 2-1 lead late in the third quarter.

Haley Prickett scored from two meters with four seconds left in the quarter, on a nice pass from Heather Van Hiel, to tie the score, headed into the fourth.

“By the end of the game, we were getting so frustrated, so we attacked with such intensity,” Indvik said. “We wanted to put it away.”

The Sea Kings continue to try to build on their Holiday Cup win. They also want to beat Foothill today, after coming away frustrated in a 4-2 nonleague loss at CdM on Jan. 6.

“We want to go out and destroy them,” O’Brien said. “We want to prove we’re a great team. We know we can do it.”

In the Sea Kings’ first-round game on Friday morning, they eased past El Toro behind goals from seven different players. Prickett scored CdM’s first two goals, while Indvik and Taylor Harkins added goals, the latter ball kept alive on a hustle play by Sarah Hutchison, to give CdM a 4-0 lead after the first six-minute quarter.

Murphy made three saves in the first half and Baldoni saved four in the second half.

Tournament of ChampionsQuarterfinal

Corona del Mar 3, Coronado 2

Score by Quarters

Coronado

0

1

1

0

—

2

Corona del Mar

0

1

1

1

—

3

Coronado -- Patrick 1, Anonas 1. Saves -- Ronimus 9.

Corona del Mar -- Levine 1, Prickett 1, Indvik 1. Saves -- Murphy 2.

First round

Corona del Mar 8, El Toro 1

Score by Quarters

El Toro

0

1

0

0

—

1

Corona del Mar

4

1

2

1

—

8

El Toro -- Todisco 1. Saves -- Campoli 10.

Corona del Mar -- Prickett 2, Indvik 1, Peotter 1, Livingston 1, O’Brien 1, Hutchison 1, Harkins 1. Saves -- Baldoni 4, Murphy 3.