No. 7 Cougars Defeat No. 4 Newport Harbor

Capistrano Valley, ranked seventh in Orange County, and fourth-ranked Newport Harbor showed Friday that their girls’ water polo teams are headed in opposite directions.

Amber Stachowski scored four goals, her sister Aimee had two and freshman goalie Meridith McColl had 13 saves to help improving Capistrano Valley defeat Newport Harbor, 9-4, in a nonleague game at Saddleback College.

With two minutes remaining, Kyndra Cox, who had four goals, had a chance to pull Newport Harbor to within two. But her shot hit the crossbar and Amber Stachowski scored on the ensuing counterattack to put it out of reach at 8-4 with 1 minute 51 seconds remaining.

After winning 11 consecutive games, Newport Harbor (13-4) has lost three of its last five, beginning with a loss to third-ranked Villa Park in the Newport Harbor tournament final two weeks ago.

“I think we’re complacent,” Newport Harbor Coach Bill Barnett said. “The competitive fire isn’t there.”

That wasn’t a problem for Capistrano Valley (9-5), which sought redemption after losing to Newport Harbor, 7-3, in the Newport Harbor tournament quarterfinals Jan. 8.

“We keep talking about how we’re a good team,” Capistrano Valley Coach Jason Lynch said. “But we haven’t shown that until today. It’s one of the better games we’ve played.”

Aimee Stachowski, a freshman, scored early in the third and fourth quarters to extend the Cougars’ lead to 6-3 before Amber scored three goals in the final three minutes. McColl had six saves in the fourth quarter.

“Besides Irvine’s [Kelly Graff], Meridith is the best goalie I’ve seen,” Lynch said. “Today, we finally put four quarters together.”

In other nonleague games:

No. 1 Irvine 6, No. 9 El Toro 2--Nicole Lorrimer and Kelly Anderson each scored two goals for visiting Irvine (13-2). El Toro did not score on its first five six-on-five opportunities.

No. 3 Villa Park 12, University 4--Kristyn Pulver had three goals, five assists and four steals for host Villa Park (13-4). Teammate Natalie Best added two goals, two assists, and two steals for the Spartans. Sam Klau scored twice for University (7-9).