Newport Harbor Stops Villa Park Again

Newport Harbor scored some opportunistic goals and shut down Villa Park’s top guns to win a Southern Section Division I girls’ water polo semifinal, 7-6, Thursday at Corona del Mar High.

Kyndra Cox scored three goals and the defensive play of Jocelyn Manderino and Diana Day also keyed the victory for second-seeded Newport Harbor (22-6), which advanced to face fourth-seeded Irvine in the final Tuesday at Belmont Plaza.

Although third-seeded Villa Park (25-2) pulled within 7-6 on Danee French’s third goal of the game with 5 minutes 10 seconds remaining, the Spartans managed only three shots on their final six possessions.

Newport Harbor goalie Erin Kennedy made saves on outside shots by Villa Park’s Kristyn Pulver and Danielle Bourret in the final five seconds to end it.

Manderino and Day were the primary defenders on Villa Park’s high-scoring two-meter tandem of Pulver and Shannon Buckner, who had combined for 13 goals in the Spartans’ first two playoff games.

But Thursday, facing Newport Harbor’s constant double- and triple-teaming defense, Pulver scored once on four shots and Buckner did not score on three shots. Buckner did not take a shot in the second half.

“Diana Day did a fantastic job on Buckner,” Newport Harbor Coach Bill Barnett said.

The Spartans, whose only losses this season were to Newport Harbor, pulled even, 5-5, on Shari Meyer’s second goal with 2:06 remaining in the third quarter. But Newport Harbor quickly scored the go-ahead goal.

Following a timeout, Newport Harbor cashed in a six-on-five situation when Villa Park left Cox wide open before she drifted in and scored from seven meters with 1:37 left in the quarter.

Forty-four seconds later, Katherine Gregg scored her second goal to put Newport Harbor up by two.

Although Villa Park never led, the Spartans were never out of it and maybe they were just a bit unlucky. The Spartans took 14 shots in the first half and five of them hit the crossbar or goal posts.

“Two of those go in and we win,” Villa Park Coach John Carcich said. “Don’t take anything away from Newport because they were determined today.”

In the other Division I semifinal:

Irvine 7, Capistrano Valley 6--The Vaqueros held Capistrano Valley’s top offensive players, Ashley and Amber Stachowski, to a goal each and scored four goals in the third quarter to take a 6-4 lead. Genevive Elefante and Erin Lezak each scored twice for host Irvine (24-4). Sam Shepard scored three goals for the top-seeded Cougars (21-8).