Newport Harbor girls water polo coach Bill Barnett said he will feel sentimental Friday when he participates in his final nonleague Battle of the Bay clash against rival Corona del Mar.
But the retiring, legendary coach will likely keep his emotions even because he also is thinking about his team.
Third-ranked Newport Harbor faces U.S. national team attacker Maddie Musselman of No. 4 Corona del Mar and plenty of high expectations as last season’s Division 1 runner-up to Laguna Beach.
“It’s a long, storied rivalry,” Barnett said the Battle of the Bay, which resumes Friday at 3 p.m. at Newport Harbor. “I don’t want to put enough pressure on the girls to make this game super-duper. I (just) want to play it.”
Corona del Mar and Newport Harbor often play multiple times each season because they enter in the same tournaments and reside in Division 1 for the playoffs. But the nonleague games generate some of the most excitement of the season.
“It’s an enjoyable game. Both teams want to win so it makes it quite intense,” said Barnett, who also coached the Newport Harbor boys for many years in the Battle of the Bay rivalry.
Corona del Mar won the teams’ nonleague game last season, 7-5, and two of the three matches against Newport Harbor overall.
The Sea Kings also won the nonleague Battle of the Bay matches, 8-6, and, 6-5, in 2012 and 2011, respectively, so they’re aiming for a fourth consecutive nonleague win in the series.
Corona del Mar projected starting lineup (from CdM)
GK Heidi Ritner, Jr.
Shannon Frome, Sr.
Grace Morgan, Sr.
Bridgett Storm, Jr.
Sarah Lawson, So.
Maddie Musselman, Jr.
Eliza Britt, Sr.
Newport projected starting lineup (from NH)
GK Carlee Kapana
Kate Pipkin
Ellie Reid
Chanel Schilling
Rachel Whitelegge
Isabel Leveque
Emma Erickson
