CdM shows it belongs

IRVINE — Corona del Mar High sophomore Max Bergeson held the ball before firing a long, cross-cage shot that hit the right post and nearly trickled into the goal.

“Bergeson, you’ve got to make that!” Sea Kings Coach Barry O’Dea yelled across the pool at Irvine High.

But O’Dea wasn’t really criticizing the miss; the grin on his face gave him away. A fun Saturday afternoon playing water polo for CdM, which knew coming into the day that fifth place was the best result it could achieve in the second annual CIF Southern Section Masters Tournament.

With the pressure off, the Sea Kings finished seventh. CdM lost to Back Bay rival Newport Harbor, 13-11, before defeating Northwood, 10-5, in the seventh-place game.

Corona del Mar was an alternate in the 16-team, season-ending tournament, getting in when Division V champion Redlands decided not to participate. But the upper-half finish made it quite a success for the Sea Kings (18-9).

“It was fun,” O’Dea said. “The lack of pressure makes it fun. My kids are walking away with a smile on their face, so you can’t ask for anything better than that.”

The early game with Newport Harbor was not a traditional rivalry game, as both teams substituted a considerable amount in the fifth-place semifinal.

Still, the Sea Kings hung around. The Sailors opened up an 8-6 lead late in the third quarter, before a power-play goal from Bergeson and a strike at two meters from Lucas Reynolds knotted it at 8-8 headed into the fourth.

Senior Chris Cottrell added another man-advantage goal to make it 9-8, CdM, with 6:10 left. But Newport Harbor scored three consecutive goals from senior backups to give the Sailors an 11-9 edge that would eventually hold up.

“We had a lot of fun with that,” O’Dea said. “[Newport Harbor coach] Jason [Lynch] and I were mixing it up quite a bit; we tried different lines. That was a pretty awesome team, that Newport team that won CIF. I give them a lot of credit.”

CdM came back with a strong effort in the afternoon game against Northwood, also a CIF Southern Section Division I finalist. The Sea Kings got three first-half goals from Bergeson, as well as scores from Cottrell, Carter Taylor and Michael Liao, to grab a 6-0 halftime lead and cruise from there.

The Sea Kings, who advanced to the Division I quarterfinals, will now look toward the future. It should be a promising one, as Cottrell and Evan Zepfel are the only seniors who get significant playing time.

At the same time, Zepfel said this year’s team had a lot to be proud of. Corona del Mar also had a big win over Mater Dei on Friday in the first round of the Masters Tournament

“Experience is more important than anything else, I think, in the playoffs, and we just didn’t have any,” Zepfel said. “None of us had ever played more than a couple minutes at the end of a CIF game before. But in this Masters Tournament, we showed everybody that we belonged.”

CIF Masters Tournament

Seventh-place game Corona del Mar 10, Northwood 5

SCORE BY QUARTERS

CdM – Bergeson 4, Cottrell 3, Liao 1, Taylor 1, Forrest 1. Saves – Anderson 11.

N – Colton 3, Noll 2. Saves – Hartshorne 10, Skelly 2.

MATT SZABO may be reached at (714) 966-4614 or by e-mail at matthew.szabo@latimes.com.