Sailors fail to find groove

IRVINE — If you can’t walk on water, you sure can’t dance on water.

The Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo team found out the hard way on Saturday. The Sailors crashed hard in the pool after living it up the night before at the school’s winter formal.

“Maybe a little bit too much,” Kaleigh Gilchrist said she and her teammates partied. “We probably didn’t get enough sleep.”

The Sailors have today to catch up on some Z’s after losing twice on Saturday to Sunset League teams they beat earlier. The second loss hurt more than the first.

Edison defeated Newport Harbor for the first time in its school history and placed third at the Irvine Southern California Championships with an 8-5 upset at Irvine High.

The only time Coach Bill Barnett cracked a smile was at the end of the day, when he congratulated Edison Coach Diggy Riley, a former player of his at Newport Harbor. The 1981 graduate said Barnett handled the loss well.

“If you’re going to lose to one guy, it’s all right losing to you, dude,’ ” Riley said Barnett told him after sophomore Alys Williams scored four goals and helped Edison stun the No. 2-ranked team in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll.

Barnett wasn’t OK after the exchange with Riley. The longtime coach had legit reasons to worry about his Sailors (20-5).

Newport Harbor has two matches next week before the playoffs start. Seeing the Sailors go 0-2 in one day after they entered it with just three losses, two to defending section champion Dos Pueblos of Goleta, isn’t how Barnett wants his team playing down the stretch.

“If they can’t rally to beat a team that they beat by six goals during the regular season, they don’t deserve to do well in [the CIF playoffs], or anywhere,” Barnett said.

Before playing No. 4-ranked Edison (19-6), Barnett knew the Sailors were in trouble. He said they lacked enthusiasm starting in the semifinals against Los Alamitos.

The Griffins took advantage. They jumped ahead, 5-2, at halftime and went on to record a 9-2 victory to advance to the final against Dos Pueblos. Beating a strong team like No. 3 Los Alamitos three times in a season is always a challenge.

Barnett said he felt things outside of the pool affected the Sailors, whose loss to Los Alamitos was their worst of the season.

“I knew we were going to have some problems, just because of the dance last night and all of the distractions,” Barnett said. “I can understand the Los Alamitos game, but I can’t understand this [Edison] game. They put so much time into this game. You’d think just pride alone that they want to perform well.”

Gilchrist chalked up the disappointing day to three things affecting the offense.

“It seemed like we were a little tired, or unmotivated, just unenthusiastic,” Gilchrist said.

“We kind of didn’t play that great of an offense. We were kind of sitting. We weren’t posting up. When we practiced for league, we knew exactly what we were doing.”

The Chargers played a role in slowing down the Sailors, especially their top threat, Gilchrist.

The USC-bound senior went into Saturday averaging three goals per match. She only scored once, but the goal ignited Newport Harbor in the third quarter.

The Sailors went on a 3-0 run, thanks to Kate Klippert scoring two of her three goals during the spurt.

Newport Harbor cut Edison’s lead to 6-5 with 58 seconds left in the period.

Twenty seconds later, Edison senior Danielle Warde put one away after an underwater play.

The day after knocking off Corona del Mar for the first time with an 8-4 quarterfinal victory, Edison found itself seven minutes away from beating another Back Bay school. CdM finished fifth in the tournament.

When it mattered most, the fourth quarter, the Chargers shut down Newport Harbor. On five of the Sailors’ first six possessions in the period, they turned the ball over.

The Sailors attempted one shot during the stretch. When they fired another, it was a lob with 2:10 to go. It was too late, as Warde gave Edison a three-goal advantage 20 seconds earlier.

Warde, who finished with three goals, had the Chargers on their way to making history for the second straight day and closer to dancing.

Riley said Edison’s winter formal was Saturday night.

After bouncing back from a 9-3 loss in the semifinals to eventual champion Dos Pueblos, the Chargers earned the right to dance wherever they wished, even in the rain.

“We played the game of our life [Saturday] against CdM,” said Riley, who’s hoping the two victories against Newport Harbor and CdM, who finished fourth and fifth, respectively, in the tournament, help Edison when the section releases the playoff pairings on Feb. 14. “This is more impressive ... It’s Newport. In the past, Edison is not supposed to beat Newport. Edison’s not supposed to beat CdM.

“We’re a team with a crappy pool. We’re not supposed to be there and here we are.”

The Chargers soaked it all up.