Newport Beach Water Polo hosts first ‘Battle in the Bay’ showcase
A word heard multiple times on the water polo deck Thursday afternoon was “rad.”
But this was a deck that was located in the Back Bay, not at a high school.
The Battle of the Bay became a sort of Battle in the Bay, as Newport Beach Water Polo held a water polo showcase off the Newport Peninsula.
First Newport Harbor’s boys played rival Corona del Mar, then Newport Harbor’s girls played Long Beach Wilson in the two matches, which were played in a field set up between the American Legion Yacht Club and the Marina Services building.
“I’ve always wanted to have some sort of Battle in the Bay,” said Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair, who played in college at UC Santa Barbara. “We play beach water polo a lot in Santa Barbara, and it’s big in Eastern Europe, like in Dubrovnik [Slovenia] and Croatia and Italy and France. In the summer, it’s like a big summer sport. We have an amazing community, so it was like, ‘Why do we not have something like this?’ Let’s promote the community, promote the sport.”
Sinclair said the idea was picking up steam prior to the coronavirus pandemic and recently was brought up again by Laird Hayes, who helped spearhead the event. The city of Newport Beach helped make it happen.
“There was no one even remotely close to saying, ‘I don’t know,’” Sinclair said. “It was all, yes, green light, go go go from the get-go, which was so cool. We’re very fortunate that we have a city that supports us.”
More than 100 spectators turned out for the event, which also featured a food truck from TK Burgers.
As for the games themselves, Newport Harbor’s boys beat rival CdM, 13-5. In the nightcap, Long Beach Wilson’s girls — guided by former CdM boys’ water polo coach Barry O’Dea — edged Newport Harbor, 11-10.
Ben Liechty scored a match-high four goals for the Sailor boys, while Peter Castillo, Mason Netzer and Finn Genc each scored twice. Riley Cereda and Connor Clougherty split time in goal, each making four saves.
Castillo’s goals both came as he flipped a no-look shot behind his head. He said the water in the bay was cold but he was happy to put on a show.
“There’s a bunch of good centers in college who do that shot, like [Nikolas] Papanikolaou [of Cal] is known for it,” he said. “It’s just fun. It’s a cheesy and tricky way to put the ball in. [Liechty] knows where I like it.”
Charles Warmington led CdM with three goals, while Luke Zimmerman added a goal and a match-high four steals. Goalkeeper Chase Campbell made four saves, including one on a penalty shot.
“I think this is a great idea, I think it’s a great tradition,” CdM coach Kareem Captan said. “I’ve heard from a lot of old alumni that were here and just people in the community, how fun it is to host something like this. We can really showcase our high school athletes in a real fun way.
“Our Newport-CdM thing is a very unique and special water polo rivalry, but I also think these things only work if the Newport staff and the CdM staff work well together and have respect for each other. Ross put an awesome thing together, and it was easy for me because I just said, ‘Yes.’”
Ryan Chalupnik led Newport’s girls with five goals in the girls’ match, but Long Beach Wilson’s Jermonie Billingsly scored the match-winning backhand goal in the final minute.
Chalupnik, who recently committed to UCLA, said playing in the bay was something that was certainly unique.
“Just playing in a different environment, it’s obviously way harder, but it was fun,” she said. “We were all having fun the whole time. It was worth it. Once you forget about that you’re in middle of the bay, and you’re not touching the algae on the bottom, it was actually really fun.”
Coaches on both sides of the bay said that they were hopeful that the “Battle in the Bay” could become an annual tradition.
“I would love to turn it into whatever we can run with,” Sinclair said. “Anything that will promote the sport, promote this community, I’m all for. Why can’t we have our national team have an exhibition game here, and get the colleges [involved], Long Beach State, UCI? Maybe even get a little league in the summertime … I’d love to create some kind of tradition here.”
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