Santa Margarita Rallies for Water Polo Victory

Santa Margarita, the fifth-ranked girls’ water polo team in Orange County, shut out second-ranked Newport Harbor in the fourth quarter and rallied to win, 7-5, in the quarterfinals of the Irvine Southern California Championships tournament Friday at Corona del Mar High.

Santa Margarita advanced to the semifinals to play No. 1 Foothill at 11 a.m. today at Heritage Park in Irvine. Foothill defeated Long Beach Wilson, 7-0.

In the other semifinal, Bell Gardens, which has an 82-game winning streak and is top-ranked in the Southern Section Division III poll, plays Capistrano Valley, ranked third in Division I, at 10 a.m.

Santa Margarita won another close one Friday after defeating Santa Barbara, the three-time defending Division II champion, 6-5, on Kristina Kunkel’s goal in sudden-death overtime in the second round Thursday.

The Eagles trailed Friday, 5-4, after three quarters, but Clare Peyrebrune scored her second goal with 4 minutes 28 seconds remaining to begin a stretch in which the Eagles (14-7) scored three times in 1 1/2 minutes.

After Newport Harbor (18-6) misfired on a six-on-five opportunity, the Eagles quickly capitalized with Erika Figge, who had two goals and three steals, scoring off a counterattack to make it 6-5 with 3:57 remaining.

Lauren Edwards added an insurance goal with 3:01 remaining, but the Eagle defense made the difference. Santa Margarita forced three consecutive turnovers and held Newport Harbor to one shot in the final 3 1/2 minutes.

“The kids are finally buying into it that if they pay the price on defense it will feed our offense,” Santa Margarita Coach Scott Taylor said. “It was a total team effort.”

With 3:43 remaining and the Eagles leading, 6-5, Santa Margarita goalie Kristen Carfioli made a save on Jenna Booth’s shot, barely swiping the ball away before it crossed the goal-line.

Katherine Belden and Jessica Ball scored two goals each for Newport Harbor.