SUNSET LEAGUE CHAMPIONS:

NEWPORT BEACH — When Newport Harbor High and Los Alamitos meet in girls’ water polo, the word meaningless is rarely used.

More than once the Sailors brought up the word after playing Los Alamitos in a meaningful match at Newport Harbor Wednesday night.

In the Sunset League regular-season finale featuring two undefeated league teams, Newport Harbor remained perfect.

The Sailors won, 9-5, and claimed their third straight Sunset League championship since joining the league in the 2006-07 season.

A lot was at stake, the league title, the No. 3 seed in the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs, and more importantly the confidence needed for Newport Harbor to believe it has a legit shot at defending its section title.

So what was so meaningless to Newport Harbor (20-6, 5-0 in league)? The third-place match the Sailors and Griffins played in at the Irvine Southern California Championships Saturday.

“The girls all realized that that game last weekend was absolutely meaningless,” said Newport Harbor Coach Bill Barnett, whose team at Irvine High beat the Griffins, 10-4, finishing in third place and short of winning one of three major tournaments this season. “Whether we won or lost in that game, it didn’t make (any) difference.”

In a way, Saturday’s match helped the Sailors, ranked No. 3 in the CIF Southern Section Division I coaches’ poll, against the No. 4 Griffins (22-5, 4-1).

The comments made by Los Alamitos Coach Dave Carlson to Newport Harbor assistant coach Brian Melstrom fired up the Sailors.

“I heard that their coach after the game was like, ‘Wow! You came really down hard on us,’ ” McCall said of what Melstrom relayed from speaking with Carlson. “We knew that they weren’t playing [hard]. Coach [Melstrom] was like, ‘I knew he was just bluffing, just to get us not thinking it was a big game.’

“All us girls like wanted to win it. But then we got there and our coach is like, ‘This game means nothing. The real game is on Wednesday.’ ”

When Wednesday came, after watching so much film on Los Alamitos the previous two days that it felt like watching the same show on HBO over and over, it was time for a new episode.

When the third meeting between these two rivals arrived, the Sailors were ready to defend their league title.

“We just wanted to kick their butt,” McCall said.

Los Alamitos struck first.

Midway through the opening period, Kaley Dodson converted a five-meter penalty. The Griffins forced the action to set up Dodson’s opportunity, getting back-to-back shots on goalie Krissy Burger in a five-second span.

Burger stopped the first and second close-range offerings by Kellie Guerin. She then drew a penalty on McCall.

Seeing Los Alamitos go ahead, 1-0, put things in perspective for Newport Harbor.

“When they got that first goal, everybody was like, ‘OK! We’re not going to lose this game. Let’s regroup. Let’s work on our defense,’” McCall said.

The defense proved to be the key to the Sailors’ success.

From the 3:32 mark in the first period, Los Alamitos went scoreless for the next 15:16. Burger made some key saves and finished with 10.

During that stretch, Newport Harbor moved the ball well, creating scoring opportunities.

Five Sailors scored goals, allowing Newport Harbor to take a commanding 5-1 lead with 3:16 to go in the third period.

Katie Jackson began the onslaught late in the first. She assisted on the second goal, delivering a cross to Kate Klippert, who put it away.

McCall scored the first of her three goals in the second period.

Kaleigh Gilchrist, who finished with two goals, hurt Los Alamitos right before halftime. She received a pass right in front of the cage and finished with three seconds left.

The Sailors’ precise passing burned Los Alamitos.

“We were forcing them to make really tough passes and they were converting passes that people haven’t been able to convert against us all year,” Carlson said. “They were able to make passes, literally 15-20 yard passes, to cross it and get the entry pass in under pressure.

“That is the best team we’ve played all year and we’ve played everybody.”

Los Alamitos is expected to earn the No. 4 seed on Monday, when the playoff pairings are released.

If the Griffins reach the semifinals, they’ll most likely face top-ranked Corona del Mar (25-1), last year’s section runner-up.

The Sailors will avoid CdM until the final, if both teams advance. When McCall was asked whether she’d like a second straight section final with Back Bay rival CdM, the USC-bound player said, “We don’t want that.”

“Since we know CdM so well, it’s almost like harder to play them,” said McCall, whose team is 0-3 against the Sea Kings this season.

The Sea Kings, along with Coach Aaron Chaney, attended Wednesday’s match.

If you want to know how important this Newport Harbor-Los Alamitos match was, Chaney and some of his players went to the match to scout it.

“The only time we’d see them again is in the CIF finals,” Carlson said of the Sailors. “I hope we see them again.”

You can bet it won’t be a meaningless match if Newport Harbor and Los Alamitos meet again.

Sunset League

Newport Harbor 9, Los Alamitos 5

SCORE BY QUARTERS

NH – McCall 3, Gilchrist 2, Klippert 2, Butera 1, Jackson 1. Saves – Burger 10.

LA – K. Dodson 1, Guerin 1, C. Dodson 1, Dunn 1, Fattal 1. Saves – Smith 10.

DAVID CARRILLO PEÑALOZA may be reached at (714) 966-4612 or at [email protected].