Newport Harbor boys’ water polo beats rival CdM, extends Battle of the Bay streak
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An overflow crowd turned out Wednesday night at the renovated Bill Barnett Pool to watch the two top-ranked teams in Orange County face off.
The Battle of the Bay boys’ water polo match between the host Sailors and Corona del Mar just felt right.
“I don’t know the last time No. 1 versus No. 2 in the county was a Battle of the Bay,” Sailors coach Ross Sinclair said. “It’s got to be a while...which is awesome. I think that’s symbolic of the community of Newport Beach. It’s an aquatics community.”
Newport Harbor used one of its traditional hallmarks, the press defense, to impressive effects. The Sailors started strong and beat the Sea Kings, 13-7, in a match with Sunset League title implications.
Stanford-bound senior attacker Connor Ohl scored a match-high four goals for top-ranked Newport Harbor, which improved to 19-0 overall and 5-0 in league with one league match remaining. The Sailors have clinched at least a share of the league title.
No. 2 Corona del Mar fell to 16-6, 3-1 in league.
Seniors Mason Netzer, Geoff Slutzky and Kai Kaneko all added two goals for Newport Harbor, which beat CdM for the 19th straight time, dating back to 2016. Sophomore Sean Anderson also scored twice.
The Sailors have nine senior college water polo commits, Sinclair said, and should reach double digits soon.
“We’ve always been a big family, all of these years playing together, moving into high school and our senior year,” said Netzer, headed to Cal. “I just think that plays a big part in it. We all know each other’s next moves, and it’s not like we have to play individually on our own.”
Senior Hudson Parks added a long-range goal at the first-quarter buzzer that gave the hosts a 5-1 advantage. They rattled off five straight goals after CdM junior Koosha Mirrafati stole the ball on the Sailors’ opening possession and scored.
“I think that was really huge,” Anderson said. “After we gave up a goal in the first quarter, to end the quarter 5-1 says a lot about our camaraderie as a team, to be able to come back and not let that one goal affect us. Bouncing back was huge.”
Corona del Mar had led after the first quarter when the teams met in the Elite Eight tournament semifinals at Harvard-Westlake on Saturday.
Senior goalkeeper Connor Clougherty added six saves for the Sailors, who led CdM 9-4 after three quarters. The visitors were hurt when standout senior center Nathan Simoncelli fouled out with 2:07 remaining in the first half.
CdM pulled within 10-7 midway through the fourth quarter on a goal by senior Samuel Macias. But that was quickly answered, as Ohl scored twice and Anderson once down the stretch to keep the Sea Kings at bay.
Mirrafati and senior Bryan Shapirshteyn led CdM with two goals each, with Grant Christian and Will Weir also scoring.
“We weren’t going to give up at any point in that game, even though we had a slow start,” said Christian, a senior co-captain bound for UC Santa Barbara. “That’s who we are, we keep fighting until the end … Putting ourselves in a hole against a team like this, we just can’t do that. If we want to win CIF, we need to make sure we don’t do this again.”
CdM returns to action when it hosts Fountain Valley on Oct. 15 in a league game.
The Sailors host San Diego Cathedral Catholic on Saturday at 10 a.m. in a key nonleague match.
Newport Harbor has beaten Cathedral Catholic three times this season, including in the title match of the South Coast Tournament and the Elite Eight tournament.
“Each game we’ve played them, it’s been closer and closer,” Anderson said. “I think they’re the one team that has a shot at us, if any team does. We can’t let them come into our home pool and beat us.”
