Newport wins Battle

IRVINE — Corona del Mar High Coach Aaron Chaney was honest with his Sea Kings.

The day before the Sea Kings played Back Bay rival Newport Harbor for a chance to advance to their third straight CIF Southern Section Division I girls’ water polo championship game, Chaney told them about their chances Wednesday.

“If we played Newport 10 times, [the Sailors] beat us nine out of 10 times,” Chaney told his team.

“We didn’t have to play them 10 times [in the playoffs]. We only played them one time.”

The one time wasn’t the time CdM pulled off the upset.

The second-seeded Sailors led by as many as four goals before beating the third-seeded Sea Kings, 8-6, in the semifinals at Irvine High. Newport Harbor moves on to its sixth section title game under Coach Bill Barnett.

Barnett was all smiles after the Sailors’ defense stifled the Sea Kings for three quarters. Newport Harbor (25-5) plays defending champion Dos Pueblos of Goleta on Saturday at 6:30 p.m. at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center.

“I love it,” said Barnett, who later learned the top-seeded Chargers (30-0) defeated fourth-seeded Los Alamitos, 9-8, in the semis. “We’re there.”

The Sea Kings (21-9) aren’t in the big game. Newport Harbor squeezed them out of another trip. The Sailors are looking to claim their second section title in three seasons and Barnett’s fifth with the girls.

How the Sailors qualified is easy. In the first half, Kate Klippert scored four goals, Kaleigh Gilchrist added two goals, and then goalie Krissy Burger made some big saves late.

The extra-man advantage was the key to Newport Harbor building an 8-4 lead after three quarters. The Sailors went six for seven on power-play situations in the first 21 minutes of action.

The only time CdM was able to slow the senior duo of Klippert and Gilchrist down was in the second half. The Sea Kings changed strategy in the final seven minutes, using a press. The move was a little too late as CdM fell to Newport Harbor for the second time this season.

“We didn’t do a good enough job knocking down Klippert and Gilchrist,” Chaney said. “It’s not a surprise. All their games they’ve been playing down the stretch, it’s all been Klippert, all Gilchrist. I check the scores all the time. I don’t know if the girls are … in awe by them or what. We just got to shut them down.