CdM girls’ water polo denied by Foothill in OT

A rough start defensively put the Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team in a hole at home Thursday night.

Foothill scored five goals in the first quarter, taking a 5-3 lead. The Knights held that lead nearly the whole way in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 quarterfinal match. Near the end of the game, though, the Sea Kings seemingly had the advantage.

CdM had the best player in the pool late, senior captain Chloe Harbilas, who scored four of her five goals in the fourth quarter to send the game into overtime.

In the end, though, the Sea Kings never got over the hump and took the lead. Foothill sophomore Mallory Reynoso scored the goal that mattered the most, the one that allowed the Knights to beat the Sea Kings for the first time in three attempts this season.

Reynoso’s goal from six meters with 1:59 left in the second three-minute overtime period stood up, as Foothill claimed a 10-9 victory.

The season isn’t over for No. 4-seeded CdM (21-6), as the brackets are played out this season. The Sea Kings will host Orange Lutheran in a fifth-place quarterfinal on Tuesday. But it is Foothill (19-9) that moves on to play No. 1 Goleta Dos Pueblos (28-1) in the semifinals Wednesday at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.

In advancing, the Knights avenged their two earlier losses this season to CdM. The Sea Kings beat Foothill 9-6 in a nonleague game on Dec. 15, and 7-4 in a Holiday Cup third-place game on Dec. 30.

“We knew it was going to be really hard for them to beat us three times in a row,” said Foothill senior Val Ayala, who scored twice. “We knew if we just took it to them as hard as we could, we’d probably have a good chance of getting the win.”

Reynoso, sophomore Malia Allen and junior Noelle Wijnbelt each scored twice on Thursday for the winners.

“When we played them earlier in the season, we didn’t do a very good job of being patient and finding the open players,” Foothill coach Jim Brumm said. “I think we’re doing a lot better job of that. You start hitting them from the outside, and it’s just like basketball. You start hitting three-pointers, and it’s going to open up the middle for your center. We have a very good center in Noelle … and we had very good balance.”

Junior Sophie Wallace had two goals and two assists for the Sea Kings, while senior goalkeeper Erin Tharp made five of her six saves in the second half. Junior center Layne Anzaldo and freshman Grace Myers added goals for CdM, which trailed 6-3 at halftime but clawed back.

The Sea Kings tied it at 7-7 on Harbilas’ goal with 2:39 left in regulation. After Reynoso scored on the other end, CdM junior Ella Abbott, who had three assists in the game, found Harbilas driving inside to again knot the score at 8-8 with 2:02 remaining.

The teams traded goals in the first overtime period. Wijnbelt drew a penalty shot that Ayala converted, and the Sea Kings answered on Anzaldo’s goal from center.

But Reynoso was the only scorer in the second overtime. After Wallace’s shot went off the crossbar in the final minute, Harbilas grabbed the rebound, but she couldn’t get a clean shot off in the closing seconds.

“All year, we wanted our defense to be our cornerstone,” CdM coach Justin Papa said. “We shored back up defensively, fought our way back into the game … I couldn’t be more proud of how we played in that game. I’ll be happy to play more water polo with this group, because it’s been a really special group to coach.”

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo