DAILY PILOT GIRLS’ WATER POLO DREAM TEAM:Tars’ Roberts anchors unit

Newport Harbor High has an anchor on its school logo.

But, for the Sailors’ 2006-07 girls’ water polo team, Sarah Roberts was the real anchor.

The University of Michigan-bound senior captain led the Tars with 67 goals, anchored their offense at two meters and also played two-meter defense when needed.

The versatile Roberts is the Daily Pilot Newport-Mesa Player of the Year.

“She’s very conscientious, to say the least,” Newport Coach Bill Barnett said. “She cares about the team, cares about winning, cares about what’s right. She puts the team before herself, always.”

After helping Newport Harbor (23-11) go 5-0 in its first year in the Sunset League, Roberts, a two-year varsity starter, was named the league’s player of the year. She also earned all-tournament honors at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, as well as the Irvine Southern California Championships.

She was also chosen first-team All-CIF Division I.

“She’s very hard-working,” Barnett said. “She took her role as team captain very seriously,”

In one of the Tars’ biggest wins of the season, a 5-4 victory over Santa Margarita in the CIF Southern Section Division I quarterfinals on Feb. 23, Roberts scored her team’s first four goals.

“What helped in my success were my teammates and Coach B [Barnett],” Roberts said. “Coach B, I could write a novel about him. Freshman year I was deathly afraid of him, and now he’s like my second dad. In practice, he’s always giving us good support. His experience with water polo has really helped the team’s success.”

Roberts said she tried to do the best thing for the team, both in the pool and out.

“Actions are bigger than words,” she said. “Even if you tell somebody ‘Good job,’ you’ve also got to show effort in the pool and help them out through your actions. It’s not just saying, ‘Nice goal,’ it’s also being there, being a friend and a good role model.”

Joining Roberts on the eight-player Dream Team are Newport Harbor High’s Allyssa Peterson, Corona del Mar’s Katie Indvik, Cari Levine and Kate Murphy, Costa Mesa’s Talhia Nuñez, Sage Hill’s Dylan Conroy and Estancia’s Melissa Buchmann.

ALLYSSA PETERSON

NEWPORT HARBOR, SENIOR

The senior, named to the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions all-tournament team and first-team All-Sunset League, played great two-meter defense all year long for Newport Harbor.

Peterson, a first-team All-CIF Division I selection, played aggressive two-meter defense but rarely got called for exclusions.

She had four steals in the TOC championship game against Foothill, and five steals in both the Sailors’ Division I quarterfinal win over Santa Margarita and their win over the Eagles in the Masters Tournament third-place game.

She also scored 28 goals.

KATIE INDVIK

CORONA DEL MAR, SENIOR

The Pacific Coast League MVP was all-tournament at the TOC. Indvik was also named first-team All-CIF Division I.

She tallied a team-high 52 goals for the league champion Sea Kings (24-10).

The lefty senior driver, bound for USC, had one of the hardest shots and best range in the area. Her quickness also helped jump start CdM’s trademark counterattack.

Indvik, a three-year varsity starter, also had 29 steals.

CARI LEVINE

CORONA DEL MAR, SENIOR

The senior driver, headed to Princeton, did a little bit of everything for CdM. A three-year varsity starter for the Sea Kings, Levine scored 37 goals.

She also defended two meters and had 42 steals.

Levine, a first-team All-Pacific Coast League honoree, had at least three steals in a game five different times, topping out at five steals against Beckman on Jan. 10.

Levine was named second-team All-CIF Division I.

Very much a team player, Levine’s passing was also excellent. She fed fellow senior Haley Prickett for a goal with just one second remaining in overtime against Foothill in a TOC semifinal, sending the game to another overtime period.

KATE MURPHY

CORONA DEL MAR, SENIOR

CdM’s goalie made the most of her first year as a varsity starter. The UC Santa Barbara-bound senior had 145 saves.

She also came up with a huge individual performance in the final of the Holiday Cup on Dec. 30, against Back Bay rival Newport Harbor. Murphy stopped three five-meter penalty shots as CdM edged Newport, 5-4, for what ended up as its only tournament title of the season.

“She brought so much intensity and effort,” teammate Indvik said after the game. “That was incredible.”

TALHIA NUÑEZ

COSTA MESA, JUNIOR

A junior, Nuñez was the Mustangs’ leading scorer with 66 goals and added 41 steals and 27 assists to help lead the Mustangs (13-13) to the CIF Division II playoffs in their first year in the Orange Coast League.

She had some of her best games in the biggest games of the year, scoring seven times in Mesa’s 12-11 victory over Estancia on Jan. 24.

DYLAN CONROY

SAGE HILL, SOPHOMORE

The only sophomore on the Dream Team, Conroy was a tenacious defender all season long for the Lightning (13-7) as they moved from a freelance school to the Orange Coast League.

She had 77 steals, and her 45 goals and 35 assists accounted for over half of Sage Hill’s goal total of 139.

Coach Tom Norton said he was particularly impressed by Conroy’s defensive awareness and her shot, saying she has “huge potential.”

MELISSA BUCHMANN

ESTANCIA, SENIOR

The Estancia senior is the only repeat Dream Team honoree.

Buchmann scored 101 goals for the Eagles (12-13) as a two-meter player this season, including at least one goal in every game.

Buchmann scored eight goals in three separate games. She also scored six times on Jan. 24 as the Eagles almost beat Costa Mesa for the first time in school history, eventually falling, 12-11.