Girls’ Water Polo: CdM falls in TOC quarters

GOLETA — The Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team wanted at least a top-eight finish at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions, but that was in jeopardy Friday afternoon at Dos Pueblos High.

Mater Dei had tied up the score against CdM in a first-round game, and Sea Kings starters Bridgett Storm and Emily Ritner had fouled out. CdM needed another source of offense.

Sophomore Chloe Harbilas provided that.

Harbilas scored two of her three goals in the fourth quarter, including the game-winner with 53 seconds left from about seven meters, as CdM rallied for a 7-6 victory.

“Bridgett’s our leading scorer, so when she goes to the bench it’s important for the other girls to step up and create opportunities and finish,” CdM Coach Kevin Ricks said. “It ended up today that it was Chloe in that game. She did a really nice job.”

And though the Sea Kings lost to No. 2-seeded San Marcos, 8-4, in a Tournament of Champions quarterfinal later Friday, Ricks was mostly pleased with his team’s effort. CdM plays Dos Pueblos in a fifth-place semifinal game Saturday at 10:05 a.m. at Santa Barbara High. Dos Pueblos had beaten Newport Harbor, 8-3, in a first-round game before losing to Foothill in sudden-death overtime in the quarterfinals.

The Sailors rebounded from the Dos Pueblos loss for their second win over Riverside Poly this season, 8-6, in a consolation quarterfinal. Newport Harbor will play Mater Dei in a consolation semifinal Saturday at 12:15 p.m. at Dos Pueblos High.

There were no big upsets on Friday, as the top four seeds advanced to the TOC semifinals. Top-seeded Laguna Beach will play No. 4-seeded Orange Lutheran in a semifinal at 11:10 a.m. Saturday at Santa Barbara High, with No. 2 San Marcos to play No. 3 Foothill in the following game. The championship game is scheduled for 4:35 p.m., also at Santa Barbara High.

Corona del Mar (8-3) survived a wild game against Mater Dei, in which the Monarchs earned five penalty shots. But they only converted one of them. CdM goalie Heidi Ritner (13 saves) blocked two others, one sailed over the cage and one hit the post.

Still, Mater Dei’s Grace Thawley tied the score with the fifth penalty shot, making it 6-6 with 1:19 left in the fourth quarter. On the other end, though, Harbilas had the answer. Harbilas then played good center defense on the ensuing possession, and CdM senior Tia DiGiovanni grabbed a steal with 33 seconds left.

The Sea Kings dumped the ball with four seconds left, and Mater Dei couldn’t get a shot off before the buzzer. Harbilas also led the Sea Kings with four steals in the game, while Jaleh Moaddeli, Sarah Lawson, Storm and Emily Ritner all added goals.

Even the San Marcos game provided positives. Moaddeli shined with two goals, two assists and four steals. And the Sea Kings were in the game, down just 3-1 at halftime.

“Our defense is rock-solid because we trust each other and we trust our goalie,” Harbilas said.

Still, similarly to a 7-0 loss to top-ranked Laguna Beach in the Holiday Cup semifinals, CdM allowed San Marcos to stretch the lead in the second half. The Royals scored three straight goals in the third to get some separation. For the game, junior Paige Hauschild led them with three goals and four steals.

Emily Ritner and freshman Sophie Wallace both scored for CdM against San Marcos, and Heidi Ritner made six saves.

CdM is ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, one spot ahead of Dos Pueblos. But the Sea Kings could have their hands full with the Chargers, who upset Laguna Beach in a nonleague game Thursday night to snap the Breakers’ 63-game winning streak.

“It’s going to be a tough game,” Harbilas said. “But I think if we play with the defense we played against Laguna and San Marcos, it’s going to be another close game. We just have to figure out how to score on them and find our offense.”

Her coach agrees with that sentiment.

“We’ve got to try to start putting a few more shots away in the first and second quarter,” Ricks said. “That would kind of be that next step for us.”

Newport Harbor, meanwhile, was happy with its 8-6 win over Riverside Poly in the consolation quarterfinals, after falling to Dos Pueblos, 8-3, in the first round. The Sailors also beat Riverside Poly in overtime in the first round of the Holiday Cup tournament last month.

“I think the motivation was equal on both sides,” Sailors Coach Brian Melstrom said. “They wanted to maybe avenge the loss that they shouldn’t have had, and we wanted to show that that was the way that it should have turned out the first time.”

Sophomore Jessica Lynch led the Sailors (7-8) against Poly with three goals, three steals and a field block. Senior Sammie Garcia scored twice on penalty shots, and Katie Kearns, Josie Miller and Lissa Westerman added one goal each. Senior goalie Maddy Kanzler made eight saves and sophomore Sarah Barker led the defensive effort with a pair of field blocks.

Melstrom said it was a good win for his team, which has been playing big games all week, including a Sunset League win over Huntington Beach on Wednesday and a TOC play-in win over Rosary on Thursday at Dos Pueblos.

“That was our fourth game in the matter of just a couple of days here, all high-level,” Melstrom said. “We’ve now won three out of four games, and none of them were easy. Nothing’s going to come easy for our girls, but they play hard. They’re learning how to win, and that’s good.”

Kearns, Miller and Westerman all scored against Dos Pueblos. Kanzler made seven saves, including one on a penalty shot, while Lynch had another strong game with four steals and two assists.

But Dos Pueblos ran a heavy press defense that seemed to bother the Sailors, who scored just one “natural” goal. Still, Newport Harbor was down just 3-2 at halftime before the host Chargers scored five unanswered in the third quarter to pull away.

Ryann Neushul and Abbi Hill each had three goals to lead Dos Pueblos.

Melstrom said the Sailors look forward to playing Mater Dei, which is ranked No. 8 in Division 1. Newport Harbor is ranked No. 9.

“They have some very dynamic players, [but] I think we can play with them,” Melstrom said.