Marina Beats Irvine Again to Advance

Marina found that the third time was the charm Saturday.

By beating Irvine, 7-4, in a Southern Section Division I girls’ water polo first-round playoff game at Golden West College, the Vikings registered their third victory of the season over the Vaqueros.

“I was a little nervous coming in,” Marina’s Cara Chlebicki said. “It’s tough to beat a team three times.”

After the teams battled to a 2-2 halftime tie, Chlebicki shook off the nervousness. She and teammate Erin Wilson scored goals 27 seconds apart to give the Vikings a 4-2 lead early in the third quarter.

The teams then traded goals, and Irvine drew within 5-4 when Sarah Hamilton back-handed a shot past Viking keeper Sarah Mix at the 1:29 mark of the third quarter.

But Chlebicki, a U.S. junior national team member, scored her second goal of the game 13 seconds later to make it 6-4.

“Cara really stepped it up in the second half,” Viking Coach Johnny Bega said. “We knew if we could tighten up our inside defense in the second half and be patient on offense, it would pay off.”

Irvine struggled to put together quality scoring opportunities in the fourth quarter, and Marina’s Jane Hashimawari put the game away by floating a shot past Irvine keeper Kim Johnson with 3:54 remaining.

Irvine, a Division I finalist the previous two seasons, came up empty in five man-advantage situations--Marina was two for four--but Vaquero Coach Scott Hinman was still proud of his team’s effort.

“Not scoring [on the man-advantage] hurt, but we were getting good chances,” Hinman said. “We just couldn’t get the ball into the net.

“I can honestly say this is the first game of consequence that we’ve lost, and I still had a good feeling about the team’s performance.”

Wilson scored three times and Kendra Shanley had four assists for Sunset League co-champion Marina (17-9-1), which will take on top-seeded Foothill in the second round.

Hamilton finished with three goals and Mary Beth Cox added one for Irvine (14-13).