Sailors hold off El Toro

LAKE FOREST — Just as she had done on the game-clinching play in the final seconds of Friday’s CIF Southern Section Division I girls’ water polo quarterfinal at El Toro High, Newport Harbor senior Kate Klippert failed to hesitate when asked to reveal the secret of her steal that thwarted the Chargers’ final possession in the Sailors’ 7-6 victory:

“Actually, it was kind of just out of cheating,” Klippert said.

The top-seeded Sailors (26-3) did nothing against the rules, mind you, but rather hedged on defense, according to Klippert, focusing their attention on El Toro’s top scorers with the game on the line.

Klippert, matched up with El Toro junior Lauren Todisco, who led the hosts with four goals, managed to intercept a pass about 15 meters from the goal with the final seconds ticking down. Newport Harbor maintained possession as time expired, advancing to Wednesday’s semifinals against Long Beach Wilson at Irvine High. Wilson, which beat Newport Harbor in a nonleague game Jan. 18, defeated Santa Margarita, 8-7, Friday to advance.

“We all were trying to play really tight defense on their strongest player,” said Klippert, who had a team-high three steals. “I was matched up with [Todisco] the whole game. It was a mismatch, so I was just cheating to get he ball. We knew we needed the steal.”

The steal helped Klippert and her teammates avoid a sinking feeling that would have gone with an upset.

Klippert also can look back now with a sense of humor on her five-meter penalty shot, which was stopped by lunging El Toro goalie Kelly Campoli with 1:13 left to keep the Chargers (17-13) within one.

El Toro appeared it would be buried early, as Newport Harbor seized a 3-0 lead after one period and led, 4-1, at halftime. But the hosts clawed their way back into the game with four third-period goals to close to within 6-5.

With Newport Harbor leading scorer Nicolina McCall having fouled out (three exclusions) with 1:30 left in the third period, the Chargers, defeated twice this season by the Sailors, 8-2 each time, appeared primed to pull off the upset.

But Newport Harbor sophomore Kaleigh Gilchrist converted a six-on-five for the Sailors 18 seconds into the seven-minute fourth quarter to give the Sailors some breathing room.

Gilchrist began the scoring sequence by launching a shot that caromed off the crossbar and was rebounded by Sailors senior Elizabeth Wheeler. Gilchrist wound up with the ball and scored to make the Sailors two for three on player-advantage situations.

El Toro, which converted its three final six-on-five opportunities after failing on its first two, answered with 4:54 left when Todisco found the net to cut the deficit to one.

From that point on, each team had four shots without a goal.

Newport Harbor senior goalie Morgan Vickers lunged to her left to deflect one El Toro shot off the goal post. Another El Toro shot caromed off the crossbar and two more sailed high.

Newport Harbor had one shot bounce off a goal post, another tipped wide, one sailed wide, as well as the aforementioned save on the penalty shot.

“We worked on those in practice,” Klippert said of her penalty shot. “It was a really big upset today that I choked, but it happens. You’ve just got to redeem yourself and play on to the next game.”

Newport Harbor Coach Bill Barnett called El Toro’s final goal of the third period a fluke. With time running down, Campoli fired a shot from three-quarters tank. Vickers appeared in position to stop the shot, but at the last minute, a Newport defender tipped the ball, redirecting it past Vickers, who appeared also to be battling the sun.

McCall had three goals before exiting, while Gilchrist finished with two. Gilchrist’s spin move at set also drew the penalty foul that led to Klippert’s penalty shot.

Vickers made nine saves, including a second lunging stop to her left, in which her outstretched left hand squarely intercepted the ball headed just inside the goalpost about two minutes into the third period.

Gilchrist added two steals, as did senior Amanda Simons, who also had one assist.

Vickers said the Sailors were thankful to be advancing.

“Everything changes in CIF,” Vickers said. “Everyone so wants to be in there at the end, everyone plays a lot tougher. [The Chargers] watched film on us, like we watched film on them. I don’t think we played so bad, but I wouldn’t say it was our all-star effort.

“We just have to keep working out the kinks,” Vickers said. “We’ve got until Wednesday and we’re going to step up big Wednesday.”

Klippert said the win came with a valuable lesson.

“We’ve had this problem before, when we kind of stall in the third quarter,” Klippert said. “We kind of let things get to us and we kind of go into sit-back-and-watch mode, because we think we [have such a big lead]. But you’ve got to keep playing hard all four quarters. You can’t let up.”

Barnett said he expected nothing less than a battle from the Chargers.

“Any time I play Coach Stoll’s team, I always worry,” Barnett said. “Because you never know what to expect and they’re always ready to play.”

CIF Southern Section Division I

Quarterfinal

Newport Harbor 7, El Toro 6

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NH – McCall 3, Gilchrist 2, Bury 1, Klippert 1. Saves – Vickers 9.

ET – Todisco 4, Browning 1, Campoli 1. Saves – Campoli 9.

BARRY FAULKNER may be reached at (714) 966-4615 or at barry.faulkner@latimes.com.