Girls’ Water Polo: CdM falls in OT
On the surface — and in reality — it was a tough overtime loss at home.
But for those who have followed the relatively inexperienced Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team this season, Friday afternoon’s 10-9 loss to Santa Barbara San Marcos can only be represented as a big step in the right direction.
San Marcos is ranked No. 4 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, while CdM is No. 6. And, while an upset win wasn’t quite in the cards, CdM Coach Kevin Ricks wasn’t upset with the effort at all.
“Probably since the Battle of the Bay, that was the best game we’ve put together,” Ricks said. “Obviously it wasn’t just 28 minutes, we got a bonus six at the end, and I just thought the girls played with a lot of composure throughout the whole game. San Marcos just has a ton of experienced players. I think the majority of their kids returned from last season’s team. So for our girls to kind of face that pressure was really terrific. I thought they did a great job.”
San Marcos senior Hailey Gellert scored the eventual winning goal, her game-high fourth of the game, with 1:31 left in the second overtime period.
Junior Jaleh Moaddeli led CdM (11-7) with three goals, two assists and two steals. Senior Bridgett Storm had two goals and three exclusions drawn before fouling out late in the fourth quarter, while sophomore Chloe Harbilas had two goals, two assists and two steals.
Juniors Sarah Lawson and Emily Ritner also scored for CdM, whole senior goalie Heidi Ritner tallied eight saves and one steal.
CdM never led until the fourth quarter but also didn’t give up a big run, which was unlike the first time the teams played, an 8-4 San Marcos victory in a Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions quarterfinal game earlier this month.
“I think we played probably the best we’ve ever played as a team,” Moaddeli said. “We had a lot of power to overcome the obstacles that were thrown at us. I think this loss wasn’t something that’s going to make us be down on ourselves. We can definitely learn from this game and only go up from here.”
Moaddeli scored two successive goals, one on a backhand and one off a foul outside five meters at the shot clock buzzer, to give CdM a 7-6 advantage with 5:06 left in the fourth quarter. Then, adversity hit.
The Sea Kings thought Storm had scored a power-play goal assisted by Lawson, but it was disallowed because the San Marcos player was not waved back in when the power play ended after 20 seconds. The clock was reset and the play run again. This time, Lawson found Harbilas inside. Harbilas’ goal counted, and CdM had an 8-6 advantage with 3:47 left to play.
Ricks said the play was exactly the same, but Lawson just found another option.
“It would have been easy to get down,” Ricks said. “You’ve scored a goal, and you feel like maybe that was taken away from you.”
San Marcos battled back, though. Paige Hauschild scored a six-on-five goal with 3:14 left, then Brittany Prentice tied it at 8-8 with a goal in transition with 1:34 left. CdM got through two different San Marcos power plays in the final minute of regulation after a big field block from Lawson.
San Marcos’ Gellert gave her team the lead in the first overtime, but Harbilas answered on the six-on-five to tie the score again. Gellert, however, had the final answer.
CdM has Pacific Coast League games against Beckman and University next week, before playing in the 32-team Irvine Southern California Championships tournament beginning Thursday. The Sea Kings could see San Marcos again in the quarterfinals of that tournament, as they’re in the same group. First, CdM would have to get past rival Newport Harbor in a likely second-round match.
Whatever happens, though, the Sea Kings believe they are making progress.
“We definitely have improved,” Moaddeli said. “Even over the last two weeks, I think we’ve improved so much. Our chemistry is amazing.”
