Top-ranked Santa Barbara ran into a hot goalie and a tough defense from Newport Harbor and suffered an 8-5 loss to the Sailors in the CIF Division 1 girls water polo semifinals on Wednesday at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.
The Dons (25-5), who had won 19 in a row and had beaten Newport Harbor three times this season, couldn’t pull off a fourth victory against the Sailors to reach their first CIF Final since 2006.
Newport Harbor will play Corona del Mar for the title on Saturday.
Santa Barbara fell behind 3-0 in the first period and faced an uphill battle against a tight-guarding Newport team. When the Dons managed to get off a shot, goalkeeper Cleo Harrington was usually in the right spot to make the save. She stopped two point-blank shots from Kelsey O’Brien in the first period.
The Dons cut the deficit to 5-3 at halftime. They got a 6-on-5 opportunity in the third period, but missed wide on a shot by Rocio Fesembeck. Fesembeck got another chance but Harrington force her to shoot it over the crossbar.
Newport Harbor responded with a long-distance goal from Christina O’Beck to take a 6-3 lead with 2:05 left in the third period.
“They hit some shots. I thought that was the biggest (difference),” Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh said. “We’ll give up outside shots all day, just because we have to. We don’t have anyone who can match up against (Elissia) Schilling (at 2 meters).”
Santa Barbara turned the ball over and fouled on a breakaway, giving the Sailors a 5-meter penalty shot. Carly Christian converted to make it 7-3.
Betsy Hendrix gave Santa Barbara a boost and ended a scoring drought with a power-play goal.
Down by three, the Dons drew an ejection 30 seconds into the fourth period. Hendrix got off a shot but it was blocked in front. She got another shot but Harrington stopped it.
Jessica Gaffney scored from long range to cut the margin to 7-5 with 4:37 left in the game.
Santa Barbara’s momentum was short lived, though, as O’Beck answered on Newport’s next possession to give the Sailors a three-goal advantage again, 8-5.
Harrington stopped two more chances to snuff out Santa Barbara’s comeback attempt.
