Newport Harbor Upsets Top-Ranked Foothill

The girls’ water polo players at Santa Ana Foothill could count their defeats over the last 4 1/2 seasons on two hands -- until Wednesday.

Now the Knights need three.

Newport Harbor, ranked No. 3 in the Southland by The Times, used an inspired defensive effort and just enough offense to defeat top-ranked Foothill, 10-9, in overtime in a Sea View League opener at Newport Harbor High.

It was the Knights’ first loss in nearly two years.

The Sailors’ victory ended Foothill’s 49-game winning streak -- the last loss was to Santa Margarita, 7-6, in the semifinals of the Southern California Championships on Feb. 2, 2002 -- and dropped its record since the 1999-2000 season to 120-11.

The Knights finished 30-0 last season.

Newport Harbor, determined not to let Foothill celebrate 50 consecutive victories, believed the Knights’ winning ways were getting old, especially the Sailors’ seniors.

“We just felt like, 49 other teams have already lost to them, and if we lose to them today, all we would be is No. 50,” said Newport Harbor two-meter standout Carolyn Conway, who got her first victory over Foothill with a team-high four goals.

Conway converted a clutch goal on a desperate, high-arcing shot she flung toward the cage from the perimeter with no time left on the 35-second shot clock.

The ball hit the crossbar on the way down and dropped in behind Foothill goalie Katy Krumpholz for a 5-5 tie with 2 minutes 40 seconds left.

“That was my Hail Mary, Brett Favre shot,” Conway said.

The score helped erase a 5-3 advantage the Knights held four minutes earlier and turned the rest of regulation into a back-and-forth goal-scoring affair that ended in an 8-8 tie.

The Sailors won with single goals by Anne Belden and Melissa Wheeler in the first of two three-minute halves in overtime.

For Newport Harbor (9-1), it was an auspicious start to Sea View League play, where the Sailors will have a leg up on the defending champion Knights (12-1) the rest of the way. For Foothill, it was a stunning end to a long string of success.

“Obviously, this is something we’ll have to live with,” Foothill Coach Dave Mikesell said. “But there’s not one game in this streak where we didn’t have a target on our backs.”

Foothill, the Southern Section Division I champion the last four seasons, has suffered four losses in a 3 1/2-season span, and Newport Harbor, the 1998-99 Division I champion, has been the beneficiary of three, including a forfeit.

“This was a tough game, for sure,” said Foothill senior standout Jillian Kraus, who had two goals but was otherwise shut down by a series of defenders.

With their 49-game winning streak, the Knights had been moving steadily closer to some notable marks.

Modesto Peter Johansen High holds the state record for the longest winning streak in girls’ water polo with 128 in a row from 1996 to 2000.

Bell Gardens had an 85-game streak in a three-season span from the 1998-99 season through 2000-01.

“I told you Newport was good,” Mikesell said.