Wilson bears down against CdM

Before his team’s game against Long Beach Wilson High Tuesday night,

Corona del Mar Coach Barry O’Dea joked about how Wilson was probably

mad after losing to Newport Harbor.

Indeed, the surprise trouncing the Newport Harbor boys water polo

team administered last week got Long Beach Wilson attention.

It’s no wonder the defending CIF champion Bruins turned things up

a notch in ensuing practices and came out Tuesday night on fire.

Wilson took out its frustrations on Corona del Mar High, swimming to

a 16-9 nonleague victory at the Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

Wilson moved from No. 1 to No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section’s

Division I after the loss to Newport. Tuesday night against the Sea

Kings, the Bruins showed they still are one of the elite teams in

CIF.

“We came out this season a little lackadaisical and full of

ourselves,” said Matt Sagehorn, who led the Bruins with six goals.

“It was a huge wake-up call when we lost to Newport Harbor. Ever

since we’ve been working hard in practice and swimming hard. Right

there is Bruin water polo.”

Wilson jumped on Corona del Mar early, jumping out to a 7-2 lead

after the first quarter and an 11-3 lead at halftime. The Bruins

counterattacked, moved the ball around quickly and played with an

intensity that seemed to be lacking in the Sea Kings in the first

half.

“I don’t think we were very intense at all in the first half,”

O’Dea said. “We came out sleeping a little bit. When we turned it

around in the second half, we weren’t able to match the damage they

had done. Once you get in a hole to Long Beach Wilson, you’re not

going to get out of it.”

The Sea Kings, playing their first road game of the season, came

out strong in the third quarter, outscoring the Bruins 4-2 to pull to

within 13-7. Two meter Tom Money netted three goals in the quarter

and finished with a team-high five goals.

“He was our standout,” O’Dea said. “He showed up to play for four

quarters.”

Corona del Mar, ranked fourth in CIF’s Division I, outscored

Wilson 6-5 in the second half. Matt Jones, Ryan Hultman and Greg

Sanford came off the bench to give the team a spark.

“One positive thing was a lot of guys got playing time today,”

O’Dea said. “And some of those guys really showed me something. The

other thing is we could have come out in the third quarter and

folded. I’m glad we didn’t shut down.”

Long Beach Wilson scored 11 goals in its first 12 shots to open the game, including several breakaway goals on counterattacks.

“They moved better than us on defense,” O’Dea said.

“We were just swimming a lot more and counterattacking a lot

better than we did against Newport Harbor,” Sagehorn said. “If we

play like this against Newport Harbor it’d be a lot closer.”

Corona del Mar (1-2) puts this game down as a learning experience

and moves on. The Sea Kings open the South Coast tournament Thursday

with a 4 p.m. game against Mission Viejo at Corona del Mar High. A

victory could land them in the second round later that night against

rival Foothill.

Nonleague

Long Beach Wilson 16,

Corona del Mar 9

Score by Quarters

*--*

LB Wilson 7 4 2 3 -- 16

Corona del Mar 2 1 4 2 -- 9

*--*

Corona del Mar -- Money 5, Murphy 3, Kent 1. Saves -- DiGiacomo 2,

Kline 3.

Long Beach Wilson -- Sagehorn 6, Wooten 3, Artukovich 3, Wright 1,

LaBounty 1, McKeon 1, Walter 1. Saves -- McIntosh 3.