Tars won’t face Sea Kings

EL TORO — For the Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo team, the first three quarters were tight on Friday night at the Irvine Southern California Championships at El Toro High.

Then, things started going wrong.

An early fourth-quarter exclusion led to an Agoura power-play goal. A Newport Harbor lob shot went off the post, and the Chargers immediately scored on a counterattack when the Sailors didn’t get back on defense.

After the smoke had cleared, Agoura (20-4) scored four straight times to open the quarter en route to a 9-6 quarterfinal win.

There were tears from the Newport Harbor players after the game, the Sailors’ hopes of advancing to the semifinals — against Back Bay rival Corona del Mar — deferred. Instead, the Sailors (16-8) will play Whittier today at 9 a.m. at Irvine High.

If Newport Harbor wins, it will play in the tournament fifth-place game at 1 p.m.

“We were looking ahead, but we also know this is a really good team,” said senior Jillian Chiapuzio, who had a steal and won four sprints for Newport Harbor. “They beat CdM earlier in the season, and they beat us last summer, so we knew it was going to be a really tough game. We were like, ‘If we make it to tomorrow, this is what’s going to happen,’ but we weren’t so positive about it.”

It looked good early for the Sailors, ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division I. Senior Allyssa Peterson scored just 28 seconds into the game, and senior Sarah Roberts added a goal less than a minute later.

With 5:37 left in the first quarter, it was already 2-0, Newport Harbor. Agoura Coach Jason Rosenthal said that might have been just what his team, ranked No. 2 in Division II, needed.

“We’ve had leads this year and teams have come back on us,” Rosenthal said. “We know anything’s possible. I think going down helped [Agoura] relax and loosen up a little bit.”

The Chargers got a goal from Casey Flacks with just one second left in the first quarter, then added a long goal from Emily Schmachtenberger 51 seconds into the second quarter.

Ashley Stratford’s six-on-five goal with 4:18 left in the second quarter gave Agoura a 3-2 halftime lead.

Newport Harbor came back, getting two power-play goals from Peterson in the third quarter — both assisted on quick passes from Jessica Robinson from the right. The second strike tied the score at 5-5 headed into the final quarter.

“We’ve been working on that pass in practice, so we finally got to put it to use,” Peterson said.

But, she said, it was tough for Newport Harbor to withstand the Agoura fourth-quarter blitz with the Sailors’ shoddy passing.

“Their shots were going in the cage,” she said. “We weren’t passing the best we could, and our shots weren’t going in the cage.”

The Chargers opened up a 9-5 lead with 2:28 left when Flacks, who had a game-high four goals, scored falling away from seven meters.

“She’s become a lot more confident in her shooting this year, and it really shows,” Rosenthal said. “She saw the opportunity and put the ball it the right spot.”

Mimi Bury drew a penalty shot that Roberts converted with 30 seconds left to give Newport Harbor its final goal. The Sailors finished just two-of-six in power-play situations.

Chiapuzio said the team has to be more aware in the pool.

“I don’t think our head was in our passes,” she said. “We weren’t focused on our passing as much as we were on playing the game or shooting the ball, and it messed us up a couple of times.”

Marisa Cottam had two steals for Newport Harbor, and Morgan Vickers made four saves.

Irvine Southern California Championships

Quarterfinal

Agoura 9, Newport Harbor 6

Agoura -- Flacks 4, Car. Clark 2, Schmachtenberger 2, Stratford 1. Saves -- Gralitzer 6.

Newport -- Peterson 3, Roberts 2, Robinson 1. Saves -- Vickers 4.