Corona del Mar girls’ water polo falls to San Marcos in Bill Barnett Holiday Cup quarterfinals
A young Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team got a bit younger in the early season after losing arguably its top field player.
Stanford-bound senior defender Megan Peterson has been out due to sickness for the last couple of weeks, coach Justin Papa said. The Sea Kings were already filling in new roles, but the loss of Peterson has meant even more of that.
Junior `Kat Snyder moved into the starting center defender position for CdM, and sophomore Claire Eusey has also seen her role increase.
These are some of the reasons, therefore, that Papa took Friday’s 10-6 loss to Santa Barbara San Marcos in a Bill Barnett Holiday Cup quarterfinal match at CdM as a positive.
“I think this game was a huge positive for us,” Papa said. “I thought the game was closer than the score indicated, and I was really proud of the way we fought. We’re improving on the things we need to improve on. Obviously, we still have work to do, but I’m happy with the step we took tonight.”
Papa said the match was more competitive than the teams’ first meeting of the season, won by San Marcos 12-6 on Dec. 6. Still, it was the No. 3-seeded Royals (9-2) who moved on to the tournament semifinals to face No. 2 Foothill on Saturday at 11:45 a.m. at Newport Harbor High.
Top-seeded Laguna Beach plays Newport Harbor in the first semifinal at 10:40 a.m. The Bill Barnett Holiday Cup title match is scheduled for 4:05 p.m.
Junior attacker Grace Myers led CdM (3-4) with three goals against San Marcos, and UC Irvine-bound senior attacker Kira Hoffman scored twice. Hoffman is a team captain, along with Peterson.
“From last year, a lot of the girls are new to varsity and getting used to playing with us,” Hoffman said. “Each practice and every game, we’re getting used to each other and adjusting, finding out people’s strengths and just meshing better as a team. I think we stepped up in intensity this game.”
Snyder added one goal for CdM, which got five saves from Stanford-bound senior goalkeeper Maya Avital. Junior center Kaity Greenwald led the Sea Kings with two steals.
The Sea Kings never led. Hoffman’s goal with 5:34 left in the first half tied the score at 4-4, but San Marcos scored the next four goals. Megan Musick, a Cal-bound left-handed senior attacker who led the Royals with four goals, had a goal and two assists in the stretch.
Myers’ score with one second left in the fourth quarter was the Sea Kings’ only goal of the second half. Along with her defensive abilities, Peterson is a top returning scorer for CdM.
“It’s better to have Megan out earlier than later,” Avital said of her future Cardinal teammate. “Pick your poison, I guess, but yeah, she’ll recover. It’s still very early in the season. We haven’t even started league yet.”
CdM plays Orange Lutheran in a Bill Barnett Holiday Cup fifth-place semifinal match Saturday at 9:35 a.m. at Newport Harbor High. It’s another chance for the Sea Kings to avenge an earlier loss, as they fell 10-3 to the Lancers in a nonleague match Dec. 18.
“We’re excited about the opportunity to go and play them again,” Papa said. “We think we’re playing better water polo. They’re a team that we always battle hard against and have great games and close games. We have an opportunity to come out and get two wins [Saturday], and for us, that’s great. That’s exactly what we want.”
CdM beat Studio City Harvard-Westlake 15-5 in the first round of the tournament earlier Friday. Myers had four goals for the Sea Kings, and Greenwald added three.
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