Boys’ Water Polo: Sailors’ rally falls short
LONG BEACH — “Anchors Aweigh” is intended to be more a fight song than a coaching point. But for the second time in as many games this season, the Newport Harbor High boys’ water polo team shoved off almost as if it were tethered to the bottom.
The Sailors, who fell behind, 6-0, also duplicated their propensity to rally, before finally succumbing, 10-9, against host Long Beach Wilson in Tuesday’s nonleague game at the Belmont Plaza temporary pool.
“This is the second game for us [in which] we had a huge comeback,” said Marco Palazzo, the Sailors’ interim coach, whose team fell behind, 6-2, in a season-opening 8-7 loss to Coronado on Saturday.”We better start stronger in the upcoming games, because we can’t rely on comebacks. We want to be ready at the start of the game.”
The Bruins, who were opening their season, showed no hesitation, holding the Tars scoreless until senior captain Clay Davison converted a penalty shot with 2:06 left in the first half to cut the deficit to five.
Newport Harbor, coming off a 23-5 season that ended in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals, closed within 7-5 with 5:59 left in the game, but got no closer than two until junior Gaven Kunkle produced his team-best third goal to finalize the scoring with 24 seconds left.
Newport Harbor, which had a chance to tie the score against Coronado, got no such opportunity Tuesday as the Bruins ran out the clock.
The Newport Harbor comeback gained steam largely due to the inspired play of senior reserve goalie Nick Wood, who entered the game to start the third quarter and made seven of the Sailors’ 11 saves.
“Absolutely,” Palazzo said of the notion that Wood provided a spark. “I changed goalies not because [the starter] wasn’t doing great, but to change the personnel in the water. Nick helped us a lot with his temperament, and he is a good passer and we used that.”
The Sailors also clamped down defensively, raising their level in a physical contest interrupted frequently by fouls and exclusions.
“I like that we finally understood that movement would help us,” Palazzo said of his team’s offensive improvement after intermission. “We want to move more and create more kick-outs.”
Palazzo said he was unsure what is causing his team’s slow starts. But he plans to get to the, well, bottom of it.
“We will talk about it with the guys on our way home,” said Palazzo, a former U.S. men’s Olympic team assistant coach who had guided the Sailors’ frosh-soph team the previous two seasons before taking the helm just three weeks prior to the season opener. Palazzo, a native of Italy, took over for Robert Lynn, who resigned following a three-season run. “It could be our mental approach to the game, or it could be the wrong warmup. We must understand what we can do better.”
Seven different Sailors scored, as Davison, a Newport-Mesa Dream Team honoree last fall, was joined by teammates Ryan Braun, Ben Morrison, Jack Mooers, Nick Daube and Luke Bradbury with single goals.
Wilson was far less democratic, offensively, as Zach D’Sa had five goals and Grant LaBounty chipped in four.
D’Sa’s lob shot with the shot clock winding down with 4:13 left, gave the Bruins their first goal in nearly 10 minutes and restored the lead to 8-5.
After Bradbury’s whirling cup shot found the net to pull the Tars within 9-7 with 3:39 left, D’Sa got behind the defense near the left goal post, faked a pass, then deposited the ball into the near corner of the cage to make it 10-7 with 1:43 remaining.
Kunkle converted a penalty shot with 1:02 left and pared the deficit further with a six-on-five goal with what turned out to be the Sailors’ final possession.
Newport Harbor returns to action at the Santa Barbara tournament, Thursday through Saturday.