Newport Harbor Gets Past Los Alamitos

Two Newport Harbor sophomores scored three goals, three Los Alamitos shots hit the crossbar or goal posts in the fourth quarter, and the result was a 4-3 Newport Harbor victory Tuesday in a Southern Section Division I girls’ water polo quarterfinal.

Sophomore Kyndra Cox had two goals and sophomore Jocelyn Manderino gave host Newport Harbor its first lead, 1-0, by scoring a little more than a minute into the game.

The Griffins never led, although their defense and goalie Jackie Frank, who will attend Stanford, kept it close.

Newport Harbor (20-7) will play top-seeded Long Beach Wilson (26-0) on Thursday in the semifinals. Los Alamitos ends its season 18-10.

“It’s a great win,” Newport Harbor Coach Bill Barnett said. “We’re playing very well right now.”

Cox has played well down the stretch, and she scored her second goal from seven meters by tucking a perfectly placed shot in the top right corner of the goal with 2 minutes 7 seconds remaining to make it 4-2.

Cox’s goal was similar to senior Alden Moore’s goal, which broke a 2-2 tie and also found the top right corner with 55 seconds remaining in the third quarter.

Los Alamitos made one last rally attempt with 25 seconds remaining. With Moore draped all over her, Los Alamitos’ Amy Valois scored on a backhander from two meters to make it 4-3.

Then Valois stole the ball from Moore with four seconds remaining. But after a time out, Frank’s shot from 18 meters was snuffed by Newport Harbor goalie Erin Kennedy.

The Griffins’ offense managed only second-quarter goals from Shelli Linza and Reagen Wilson, then went scoreless for 15 minutes until Valois’ last-minute goal.

“We had plenty of shots,” Los Alamitos Coach Tony Martinho said. “There were just numerous high-percentage scoring opportunities that we didn’t convert on.”

In other Division I games:

Long Beach Wilson 7, Villa Park 3--Kristyn Pulver scored two goals early in the first quarter to give the visiting Spartans (20-7) a 2-0 lead. But Villa Park didn’t score again until Shannon Buckner’s fourth-quarter goal.

Top-seeded Wilson (26-0) led, 3-2, at halftime, but broke the game open with three third-quarter goals.

Irvine 9, Capistrano Valley 8--Amber Stachowski scored her second goal with 41 seconds remaining to pull third-seeded Capistrano Valley (22-5) within one, but Irvine’s Nicole Huszcz made a steal with 15 seconds remaining and the Vaqueros (20-7) ran out the clock.

Irvine advanced to play Marina in the semifinals.

Jamie Pack scored two of her three goals in a five-goal fourth quarter and teammate Erin Lezak scored her second goal with 2:12 remaining to cap a three-goal run and give Irvine an 8-6 lead.

Ashley Stachowski scored two goals for Capistrano Valley.

Marina 9, El Toro 4--Cara Chlebicki had three goals and three assists and Rebecca Miller added two goals and two assists for second-seeded Marina (22-5). El Toro ended 19-8.

In Division III:

Rosary 12, El Dorado 3--Top-seeded Rosary (22-7) scored the first 11 goals, including five by Julia Wald, and Julie Henn added three for the Royals, who will play Santa Monica in Thursday’s semifinals.

Jessica Durkin scored two goals for El Dorado (14-14).