Sea Kings, Sailors top seeds in big tournament

It’s hard to predict what might happen at a girls’ water polo tournament featuring 32 of the top teams in Southern California.

But to find the favorites for the tournament, one wouldn’t have to look any further than the Back Bay.

Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor high schools are the top two seeds for the Irvine Southern California Championships, which begin today at host sites Corona del Mar, Irvine High and El Toro High and continue through Saturday.

The tournament, which features four eight-team groups, is considered very important because it is the last major one before the CIF Southern Section playoffs begin. This means playoff seedings could be largely influenced by results this weekend.

The top-seeded Sea Kings (16-5), also the top-ranked team in CIF Division I, will play today and tomorrow at Corona del Mar.

Coach Aaron Chaney’s Sea Kings, who won the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and are on an 11-game winning streak, open today at 3 p.m. against Santa Monica, and a win would put them in a 7 p.m. second-round game against either Edison or Long Beach Millikan.

Opponents for a possible quarterfinal game Friday at 6 p.m. could be Villa Park, seeded second in the Corona del Mar group and ranked No. 2 in Division II, or Santa Barbara.

No. 2-seeded Newport Harbor, also ranked No. 2 in CIF Division I, will play Long Beach Poly today at 3 p.m. at Irvine High in its first-round game. The Sailors (18-3), who have junior Nicolina McCall’s 38 goals pacing them in scoring, should be in a second-round game at 7 p.m. against either Whittier or Harvard-Westlake.

Newport Harbor finished third in the Holiday Cup and second in the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

Laguna Beach (ranked No. 3 in Division II) and San Diego Section powerhouse Coronado are the next two seeds in Newport Harbor’s group.

Holiday Cup champion Dos Pueblos headlines the third group, with Los Alamitos and Montebello as other contenders in the Chargers’ group. Defending tournament champion Foothill is the other top seed, and Long Beach Wilson and Santa Margarita follow in that group.

The tournament semifinals are scheduled for Saturday at 10 and 11 a.m. at Irvine High, with the championship game scheduled for 3 p.m. and also at Irvine High.

Foothill overcame a 3-0 deficit to beat Corona del Mar in overtime, 5-4, in last year’s Southern California Championships title game.

Corona del Mar junior Heather Van Hiel, who leads the Sea Kings with 34 goals, is a returning all-tournament team member. The Sea Kings also include junior goalie Kate Baldoni, who was named MVP of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions.

— Matt Szabo