Tars rally for rings

IRVINE — Nothing was going the way it was supposed to for the Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo team.

Down three goals entering the fourth quarter against Back Bay rival Corona del Mar, the Sailors were also without their senior team captain, who had fouled out.

What happened next was a thrilling comeback fit for a champion.

Top-seeded Newport Harbor scored the game’s final four goals, including junior Nicolina McCall’s go-ahead rebound goal with 52 seconds left in the second overtime period, to stun CdM and win its fourth CIF Southern Section Division I title, 6-5, Saturday night at Irvine High.

“One of the most exciting games I’ve ever been involved in,” said longtime Sailors Coach Bill Barnett, who jumped in the pool following the game with Sailors senior Lauren Jarvie. “It was really a team effort from everybody’s standpoint, the girls in the water and the girls on the bench. The intensity was incredible in the fourth quarter.”

Corona del Mar had a 5-2 lead headed into that fourth quarter, and Sailors senior Mimi Bury had received her third exclusion after swiping the ball away from CdM junior goalie Kate Baldoni to set up the Newport Harbor offense.

“[The referee] said that Mimi put the ball in the girl’s face,” Barnett said. “[Bury] said she was just getting the ball.”

Barnett was issued a yellow card following the third quarter for arguing with the referee about the play. But Newport Harbor (28-3) refused to fold against the second-seeded Sea Kings (24-7).

“When we have to step up, we step up to the occasion,” senior goalie Morgan Vickers said. “This being our last CIF game, it was even more reason to say, ‘Hey, we’re in the fourth quarter, there’s no way we’re going to lose this game.’ Not when we’ve worked as hard as we have, all season.”

Senior Erin Reid scored a counterattack goal with 3 minutes, 40 seconds left in the fourth quarter.

After a steal from sophomore Kaleigh Gilchrist, senior Kimmy Morrison scored from set to pull Newport Harbor within one, 5-4, with 2:51 left in regulation.

“We just didn’t give up,” said Reid, who scored a team-high two goals along with McCall. “We knew we had it in us to beat them. We just wanted it so bad.

“When Mimi went out, that was a big blow to all of us. She’s our best player, in my opinion. But I think it’s even more of a testament to how strong our team is. It sucked that she couldn’t be in, but it was great that we could still do it for her.”

Vickers (nine saves, including one on a penalty shot) came up big late in the fourth quarter, blocking a power-play shot from CdM junior Victoria Kennedy to keep the Sailors within a goal. That’s where they stayed until Gilchrist scored from seven meters out, a rocket shot with 36 seconds left in regulation. The ball hit off the inside of the left post and trickled into the net.

McCall had several near-misses during the first overtime period, including shots that went bar-out on back-to-back Sailors possessions. But when she had the opportunity in the second overtime, after a shot from Morrison hit the bar, she made the most of it to poke in the game-winner.

“I just picked the ball up and pushed it in, as hard as I could,” McCall said. “That ball was going to go in that cage. I had tried way before, like four times, and the ball just wouldn’t go in.”

The Sailors had felt that way through the first three quarters, too. After the score was tied, 2-2, at halftime, Corona del Mar scored three straight goals in the third quarter.

Heather Van Hiel and Kennedy each scored on the power play, then Van Hiel added a lob goal from the right wing to give CdM a 5-2 advantage with 30 seconds left in the third quarter.

The Sea Kings were then held scoreless for the final 13:30 of the game. They had one last chance with eight seconds left in the second overtime period, but Sailors senior Amanda Simons stole the pass to clinch the Newport Harbor victory.

Baldoni did what she could for CdM, tallying 13 saves and three steals to help to keep the Tars at bay for much of the game.

“We just got tentative, we were afraid to make mistakes and we stopped attacking,” CdM Coach Aaron Chaney said. “Newport’s not going to back down.”

That was exactly the mentality, said Sailors senior Jessica Robinson.

“I’ve never given up before, but I was seriously about to,” Robinson said. “But then I realized, four years of my life has been thrown into making this team what we are. Waking up at 5:30 every morning just so we can practice and get stuff right. I just put all that on the line and figured that we have to win this game. I was not going to go down.

“I don’t even have words anymore. I’m so proud of our team right now.”

Both teams will now prepare for the CIF Masters Tournament, which begins Friday.

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CIF Southern Section Division I

Championship

Newport Harbor 6, Corona del Mar 5 (OT)

SCORE BY PERIODS

CdM – Van Hiel 2, Kennedy 1, Peotter 1, Molnar 1. Saves – Baldoni 13.

NH – Reid 2, McCall 2, Morrison 1, Gilchrist 1. Saves – Vickers 9.

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