Corona del Mar girls’ water polo doubles up San Clemente, stays unbeaten
A Christmas tree with many signed water polo balls currently sits on the pool deck at Corona del Mar High School.
The balls are filled with signatures of players from previous CdM girls’ water polo teams, and some of those former players will be greeted as CdM hosts its annual alumni game on Saturday.
Though the program has a considerable tradition, it wouldn’t be wise to bet against the current squad in that alumni game.
Corona del Mar showcased its depth Friday afternoon in a key nonleague match against San Clemente.
Seven different players scored as the Sea Kings earned a 12-6 victory, staying unbeaten early in the season with an 8-0 record.
“A lot of respect to San Clemente,” CdM coach Marc Hunt said. “I think they’re an extremely good team. You’ve got to play very good water polo and keep your turnovers down. We kept our turnovers low today, we weren’t throwing the ball away.”
Stanford-bound senior center Reagan Weir scored three goals for the winners, while fellow seniors Piper Sidebotham, Audrey Long and Kiana Wells each scored twice.
Each of those players is a returner from last year’s Division 1 title team, but new pieces abound to give CdM more depth than a year ago.
Junior Josie Alaluf and sophomore Morgan Dollander, both transfers from Newport Harbor, made their season debuts after the 30-day sit-out period. Alaluf scored a first-half goal and Dollander, a left-handed attacker, added a late steal.
“Last year, we didn’t have a lot of depth, but now we do,” Long said. “When we’re out there, we’re able to give 100% throughout the entire game and we can get rest. Josie and Morgan make a huge difference … and with all of the freshmen, it’s cool to see that the program is going and there’s a bright future.”
Freshmen Camryn Spruill and Keira Bethell both contributed to the victory. Spruill, who had the match-winning goal in the season opener against Laguna Beach, had two exclusions drawn and two steals. Bethell scored on a quick scoop shot from center and also drew a penalty shot.
“They’re just a little unassuming [at center],” Hunt said. “People aren’t really ready for it. You deal with Reagan the whole time, and they look back and they don’t see No. 11 back there, but they don’t realize that No. 12 [Spruill] and No. 6 [Bethell] are going to cause you problems.”
CdM senior left-handed attacker Didi Evans also scored and dished out a team-best four assists in the team effort. Senior goalkeeper Gabby MacAfee made 11 saves, a few of them highlight-worthy, including a left-hand stop from close range and a penalty shot stuff.
CdM took a 3-0 lead after the first quarter on goals by Alaluf, Wells and Sidebotham. But San Clemente (2-2) rallied to tie the score at 3-3 late in the first half as Adley Dawson, Hazel Thrash and Phoebe DeMoss on the counterattack each found the back of the net.
The hosts, who won the Troy tournament earlier this month, quickly restored order. Long scored a power-play goal assisted by Evans to give the Sea Kings a 4-3 halftime lead, before they broke out for six goals in the third quarter.
Defensively, CdM held San Clemente to three goals in each half, with DeMoss, a UC Santa Barbara commit, pacing the Tritons by scoring twice.
“I thought our defense was pretty good,” said Wells, who plays two-meter defense. “We can still practice crashing back, but I thought overall we’ve improved from previous games that we’ve had. This was a more challenging opponent compared to the previous teams, so I felt like this was a good test going into the tournaments coming up.”
Corona del Mar competes next in the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup on Jan. 3-4.
All the latest on Orange County from Orange County.
Get our free TimesOC newsletter.
You may occasionally receive promotional content from the Daily Pilot.
