CdM girls’ water polo in the Division 1 mix

The Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo program once had a very impressive streak.

The Sea Kings made at least the CIF semifinals for 14 straight years through 2013, when the program captured its lone CIF Southern Section Division 1 title.

But Division 1 has gotten deeper since then, and CdM has been unable to maintain the streak. In two of the three years since, CdM has lost in the quarterfinals.

This year, though, there appears to be reason to believe a deeper run can happen.

“I definitely think we’re going to make it past the quarterfinals this year, especially with the intensity that we’ve been training at,” senior co-captain Jaleh Moaddeli said. “Even our bench is super-deep. We have a really good starting lineup, and we have a lot of young people that are going to step up for us big-time this year.”

At this point in the season, CdM is just practicing. The girls don’t have a game until Dec. 20 at Santa Margarita, in part because they are forced to play each team twice in the Pacific Coast League. Three days later, CdM plays the Battle of the Bay game at rival Newport Harbor on Dec. 23.

But there are already positive signs. Last week, CdM held its own in a scrimmage against defending Division 1 champion Orange Lutheran, though no score was kept.

CdM did lose two big pieces to graduation in Daily Pilot Dream Team Player of the Year Heidi Ritner (a goalie now at Michigan) and center Bridgett Storm (UCLA). But the players who are coming back are also impressive.

The Sea Kings return five starters, led by their leading scorer Moaddeli, who played with the U.S. Women’s Youth National Team this past summer. She is one of four co-captains along with fellow seniors Kelly Morgan, Sarah Lawson and Emily Ritner, who is Heidi’s younger sister. But there is also plenty of experience throughout the roster as well, at the high school level and beyond.

Juniors Chloe Harbilas and goalie Erin Tharp, as well as sophomore Sophie Wallace, all played with the U.S. women’s cadet national team at the UANA Junior Pan American Championships last summer in Canada. They helped Team USA claim silver.

All of this USA Water Polo Olympic Development Program experience should be beneficial for CdM. Tharp slides into the starting goalie spot vacated by Ritner, while Harbilas is an emerging player who had 52 goals last season. Wallace was a key reserve off the bench last season as a freshman, also stepping up to start a few big games.

“Coming off of the national team stuff, what we learned there, we learned it together because we all went through that together,” Wallace said. “We can bring it back to CdM, which I think really helps. It’s not only one of us trying to interpret it different to CdM, it’s all of us bringing it back.”

There is also increased familiarity because Coach Kevin Ricks is in his second year at the helm.

“Certainly I’ve had a chance to work with everybody now,” Ricks said. “I feel like I know the girls better, and I think probably the biggest difference from last year to this year is just having more returners coming back to the pool. Last year, even the returning athletes still felt new to me. You lose kids like Heidi and Bridgett and those are tough shoes to fill, but I think Erin’s going to do a nice job in the cage for us. Just another season of experience for the rest of the girls is going to give them a lot of confidence.”

So don’t count out CdM in a deep Division 1 this season. The Sea Kings even have an unlikely rival in Santa Barbara San Marcos, which knocked them out of the Division 1 playoffs last year, 8-5, in a quarterfinal match at Santa Barbara High.

CdM went 0-4 last year against San Marcos, with two of the losses coming in sudden-death overtime. The Sea Kings then had another close loss to the Royals last summer in a tournament.

“That’s definitely [a goal], to beat San Marcos,” Tharp said.

CdM girls’ soccer off to fast start

On Monday, the Corona del Mar High girls’ soccer team accomplished something it had only done once before in Coach Bryan Middleton’s 15-year tenure at CdM.

The Sea Kings won a tournament. They captured the Westminster Classic, blanking Irvine, 4-0, in the championship game on Monday night at Westminster High.

CdM went a perfect 5-0 overall in the tournament. Two freshmen, Trinity Rodman and Megan Chelf, have been catalysts to the fast start. Chelf had two goals and an assist in the win over Irvine, while Rodman had a goal and two assists. Chelf has four goals and six assists already this season, tied for the team lead in both categories. Rodman has three goals and six assists.

Ava McKenzie, who shares the team lead with four goals, also scored in the final for CdM. She helped the Sea Kings win a tournament for the first time since the Flintridge Sacred Heart tournament in 2011.

Corona del Mar travels up the coast for a pair of games beginning Friday. The Sea Kings play at Lompoc Cabrillo on Friday at 3 p.m. and at Oxnard on Saturday at 11 a.m.

The latter game especially could be tough. Oxnard is the defending CIF Southern Section Division 5 champion and moved up to Division 3.