CdM Boys Win Water Polo Championship

Needing only one more victory to bring an Orange County-record 13th CIF-Southern Section boys water polo title back to their campus, the Sea Kings did more than just show up for their Nov. 20 game ready to play.

They spent the morning being steeped in the tradition that has made Corona del Mar's one of the best programs in the county.

That mental focus came in handy as the Sea Kings rallied from two goals down late in the third quarter and shut out top-seeded Murrieta Valley in the fourth for an 11-10 victory in the Division 2 championship game at the William J. Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.

Earlier in the day, team members ate breakfast together and then spent some time in the school's gym, looking at and counting the CIF water polo championship banners hanging on the wall.

They were visited by alumni from the school's other championship teams who spoke to them about their experiences of winning CIF titles and what it meant to them to be Sea Kings.

"Then we got to the spot where the new [banner] would go," coach Barry O'Dea said, "and I said, 'That's where yours will go.'"

Corona del Mar never trailed in the first half, but in the third quarter, Murrieta Valley began to take control of the game. Trailing 8-6, the Nighthawks scored four unanswered goals to take a 10-8 lead.

The team's leading scorer, Eric Van de Mortel, tallied the first two goals and Trent Virgil added the last goal in the run when he caught a cross pass and, despite defensive pressure, managed to fire a low shot that found the low-left corner to give Murrieta Valley a 10-8 lead.

Corona del Mar finally got back on the board in the closing seconds of the third quarter. After a Murrieta Valley expulsion and a double expulsion, the Sea Kings found themselves on a five-on-four power play with 0:28 left.

As the clock ran down, junior utility player Ben Zepfel scored his first goal of the game on a shot from in front of the goal to the lower-left corner. O'Dea had told his team there would be a momentum shift, and Zepfel's goal seemed to get them back on track.

"We just regained our composure, slowed down and took over from there," senior Chase Watson said. "We listened to [coach O'Dea], we had a good game plan and we followed it."

Watson led the Sea Kings with five goals but did not score in the fourth quarter. The Sea Kings had taken a calculated gamble, at Watson's urging, to replace him for a spell in favor of added pressure on defense. The move worked as the Sea Kings did not allow a goal in the final period.

Meanwhile, other players filled the offensive void. Senior Miles Carpenter tied the score at 10 at the 6:02 mark with a rocket shot from about eight meters that slipped right over the goalie's head.

After several defensive stops from both teams, the Sea Kings got what would prove to be the game-winner with 2:51 left when Zepfel scored his second goal on a shot from the left side.

Things weren't always so promising for the Sea Kings, who struggled with inconsistency early in the year. After a 12-11 loss to Long Beach Wilson in their final game of the S&R Sport Water Polo Cup tournament on Oct. 9, their record stood at 7-6. They held a team meeting immediately after that game.

O'Dea said every player and coach made a promise that they were going to work on getting better every practice and every game and that they were going to finish the season strong.

The Sea Kings went 16-2 the rest of the way. Their only two losses were to the two teams that played later Saturday in the Division 1 final: Mater Dei and El Toro. And along the way they defeated rival Newport Harbor, 13-10.

"When we beat Newport this year in the 'Battle of the Bay' game in our pool, that was huge," O'Dea said. "That was what they needed to understand that they could win a championship."

After Saturday's game, O'Dea told his players that some time in the future some of them might be called upon to return to the school to tell of their experiences to future Sea Kings, who might be looking to hang a banner of their own in the gym.

"They're pretty pumped about that," O'Dea said.