Sea Kings advance to semis

CORONA DEL MAR — As the clock ran down, the Long Beach Wilson girls’ water polo team got one last shot off in the Holiday Cup quarterfinal Friday at Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings goalie reached for the ball and made the save, denying the Bruins a last-second goal as the crowd cheered.

But the goalie was CdM backup Amy Youngman, not starter Kate Baldoni, because the Sea Kings had already secured their 8-3 win.

The victory moves CdM into the tournament semifinals, where the Sea Kings will face Foothill today at 11:45 a.m. at Newport Harbor High.

CdM also eased by Poway, 8-0, in its first-round game.

Sea Kings Coach Aaron Chaney said his team set a goal Friday morning of finishing top four in the Holiday Cup, an objective CdM (5-3) is now guaranteed to meet.

The game against Wilson was tight in the first half, much like in the teams’ first meeting on Dec. 4 at Belmont Plaza. Wilson won that game, 7-6.

“We really wanted to come out strong in all four quarters against Long Beach Wilson, since they had beat us,” CdM junior Leslee Kaczmarek said. “We wanted to come back out and beat them to show that we’re a tough team and up there [in the rankings].”

Kaczmarek was a big part of proving that point. She scored twice from set against the Bruins (7-2), the first goal knotting the score at 2-2 late in the first half.

With the shot clock winding down, Kaczmarek scored again from two meters with 3:18 to go in the third quarter, giving CdM a 4-2 lead.

Junior Heather Van Hiel tied a season high with four goals for the Sea Kings. Her last strike, on a precise pass from Elise Molnar, gave the Sea Kings their eighth and final goal with 2:30 left in the game.

Two-meter player Victoria Kennedy scored twice for the Sea Kings, who Chaney said got their best production of season out of two meters. They also held Wilson’s USC-bound senior Kendall Wootten — who scored five goals in the teams’ previous meeting — to just a single goal Friday.

“They guarded her with a lot of players today,” Wilson Coach Tony Martinho said. “They sandwiched her from the top and bottom. If the key was to try to keep Kendall from getting the ball, they definitely did a good job of that ... We knew we were in for this sort of test today. Aaron always has his players ready to go.”

The young Sea Kings also want to be ready to go in today’s semifinals, where they will meet defending CIF Southern Section Division I champion Foothill for the first time this season.

Holiday Cup

Quarterfinal

Corona del Mar 8,

Long Beach Wilson 3

SCORE BY QUARTERS

LBW – Artukovich 2, Wootten 1. Saves – Hardy 6.

CdM – Van Hiel 4, Kennedy 2, Kaczmarek 2. Saves – Baldoni 9, Youngman 1.

First round

Corona del Mar 8, Poway 0

SCORE BY QUARTERS

P – Saves – Denaro 7.

CdM – Dice 2, Kennedy 2, Van Hiel 2, Molnar 1, Peotter 1. Saves – Baldoni 10.

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