No. 3 Sailors Beat No. 2 Cougars

Capistrano Valley, the second-ranked girls’ water polo team in Orange County, met its second top-three ranked opponent in three days, and the Cougars lost again.

Katherine Belden had three goals and Jenna Booth scored both of her goals in the fourth quarter to lead No. 3 Newport Harbor past Capistrano Valley, 7-4, in a nonleague game Friday at Newport Harbor High.

Capistrano Valley (13-4-1) lost Wednesday to top-ranked Foothill, 8-5, after losing to the Knights on Saturday, 6-3, in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

“Today was the worst we’ve ever played this season,” Capistrano Valley Coach Jason Lynch said. “We had a bunch of unfocused girls.”

Newport Harbor (15-4), which lost to Capistrano Valley, 2-1, last weekend in the Santa Barbara tournament, zeroed in on the goal after the Cougars tied it, 4-4, two minutes into the fourth quarter.

Capistrano Valley trailed, 4-2, until Aimee Stachowski drew an ejection on Belden, which resulted in a four-meter penalty shot 30 seconds into the fourth quarter.

Amber Stachowski, a junior national team member and UCLA recruit, converted that four-meter shot and she scored again with 4:55 remaining off an assist from Clare Meadows to make it 4-4.

But Newport Harbor scored on its next two possessions, with Jessica Ball and Booth scoring goals in a 29-second span. Booth’s goal came after Ball drew an ejection, giving the Sailors their fourth goal in their seventh six-on-five opportunity to make it 6-4 with 3:56 remaining.

“We had better movement today,” Newport Harbor Coach Bill Barnett said. “That was key for us. It created more scoring chances.”

Newport Harbor’s defense sealed it, with goalie Heather Deyden making two of her 10 saves in the final 2 1/2 minutes.