CdM shuts down Northwood in Div. 2 semifinals

IRVINE – Corona del Mar coach Barry O'Dea acknowledged that facing Pacific Coast League rival Northwood for the third time this season made him nervous.

The defending Division 2 champions quickly eased that tension.

The No. 5 Sea Kings jumped out to a 4-1 first-quarter lead and then cruised to a 9-5 victory over Northwood on Wednesday in a CIF-SS Division 2 semifinal at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.

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The Sea Kings (24-6), who are the No. 1 seed in the division, will face Long Beach Wilson in the championship game on Saturday at 2:45 p.m. It will also be the third time they face the Bruins, with the Sea Kings winning the previous two by a combined four goals and both games requiring overtime.

"It's going to be a good game," O'Dea said. "It's an old-school CIF final and I think that's good for water polo."

The Sea Kings continued their postseason dominance against Division 2 teams, improving their record to 19-0 in playoff games. Their defense was stellar as they held Northwood (18-12) to just two goals in the second half and tied their second lowest goal total of the season.

"I thought our defense was great," O'Dea said. "We did a really good job on our rotations and slides."

Seniors Charlie Howarth and Ari Marks each scored two goals, junior Jake Wyatt added two of his own and goalie A.J. Santa Maria tallied seven saves for the Sea Kings.

Senior goalie Gavin Konsttanzer had 10 saves for Northwood.

In the other CIF-SS Division 2 semifinal:

Long Beach Wilson 14, No. 8 Villa Park 9: The Spartans (23-8) got four goals from Shane Pickels and six saves from goalie Dylan Burns, but their offense went cold in the second half, scoring just once in the fourth quarter as they fell to the Bruins (20-10).

"We only had nine goals tonight and that's not normal for us, even against the good teams like them (Wilson)," Spartans coach John Carcich said.

BJ Churnside, who came into the game as the second leading scorer in Orange County with 152 goals, only scored twice and was harassed all night by the Bruins defense. Eric Bungcag, who had 110 goals this season, was shut out.

"If you had told me our two leading scorers would be two for twenty tonight I wouldn't believe it," Carcich said.

The teams were evenly matched in the first half as they were tied six times and traded the lead twice. The Spartans led 6-5 as the second quarter was winding down, but Maxwell Irving scored on a power play with 14 seconds left to pull the Bruins even and the Spartans never led again.

Anthony Edery scored twice and Bryce Leiter added a goal to round out the scoring for the Spartans.