Newport Harbor girls’ water polo tops CdM in high-scoring Battle of the Bay match
The Newport Harbor High girls’ water polo team had not played a match for 10 days entering Saturday morning’s Battle of the Bay showdown with Corona del Mar.
This week, the Sailors were able to focus on their final exams at school, while also welcoming alumni of the program who are home from college on their own holiday breaks.
“We’ve been swimming a lot, staying conditioned,” Newport Harbor senior Angelena Peterson said. “Going into finals week, practice was our way to kind of not think about school, so we were really focused throughout practice.”
The Sailors did not appear rusty, at least on offense, against their visiting Back Bay rivals.
Senior Sofia Del Villar led eight different scorers with four goals, as Newport Harbor claimed a 16-11 Surf League win in the first Battle of the Bay match of the season.
Senior center Ryan Chalupnik added three goals for the Sailors (6-1, 2-0 in league), while junior Caitlin Stayt and sophomore Sophia Verdugo each scored twice.
Senior Ava Schoening led Corona del Mar (6-1, 0-1) with five goals, and junior Reagan Weir added four, but the Sea Kings were still dealt their first loss of the season.
Both teams scored at least two goals in every quarter of the high-scoring affair.
“I think offensively [we were] just fine,” Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said. “The defensive side, we’ve got a lot to learn from this one. We’ve got to get better at individual defense and finishing our defensive possessions. At times, we fell asleep a little bit.”
Newport Harbor led just 5-4 late in the first quarter before beginning to pull away. Sophomore Kylie Robison dished to Chalupnik at center for a quick goal with 15 seconds left in the quarter.
The hosts then scored the first four goals of the second quarter, forcing first-year CdM coach Marc Hunt to call timeout. The last two came from Verdugo, both assisted by her freshman sister Valery Verdugo.
Newport Harbor really benefited from its six-on-five advantages, converting eight of 11 chances, including the first five power-plays of the match.
“We need to have better team continuity with covering what our responsibilities are on our shot blocks,” Hunt said. “I thought Newport did a very good job exposing that in the first half. I look at that as a fixable opportunity. We’re going to work on it and get better at it, and what I like about my group is that they understand what ‘get better’ means.”
Newport Harbor led 10-6 at halftime, and the advantage never got below four goals in the second half.
Peterson dished out five assists for the Sailors, who also got goals from junior Harper Price, senior Chloe Rizof and freshmen Madison Mack and Gabby Alexson. Junior goalkeeper Lydia Soderberg made eight saves.
“It’s not just the passing,” Peterson said. “[My teammates] help me out a lot with getting open. I can make that good pass, but they’re working hard to get open and drive. I think we’ve played together for so long, we have that chemistry with everybody. Our team is so close, so we just work together well.”
Junior Gabby McAfee and senior Dahlia Archer split time in goal for Corona del Mar, and each made four saves. Juniors Audrey Long and Didi Evans also scored, with Evans racking up four assists, and junior defender Tia Wells also impressed with two assists and a field block.
Schoening, a Brown commit, is the only senior field player for the Sea Kings.
“We fought so hard,” she said. “We’ve been working together as a team, which is really good. For that game, we can definitely work on our defense. It was a pretty high-scoring game … I think we can do a lot better next time in January.”
The teams meet again in their Surf League finale on Jan. 30.
Newport Harbor and CdM both continue their season next weekend, as they host the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup Dec. 29-30. Newport Harbor, the No. 4 seed, opens Friday morning at home with a match against Long Beach Millikan.
Corona del Mar is seeded seventh in the 12-team tournament, and plays Cathedral Catholic in its first game on Friday afternoon.
Orange Lutheran, Foothill and Mater Dei are the top three seeds for the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup.
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