Girls water polo: Rising Newport Harbor ready for time in the spotlight

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The sea of supporters who cheered Newport Harbor’s boys water polo team to the CIF Open Division title Saturday held a major clue about the upcoming girls water polo season.

The spirited group included several members of the Sailors’ girls squad, which is considered the top-ranked team in Orange County. The girls water polo season began Monday.

“I’d put them preseason No. 1,” said Coach Ethan Damato of Laguna Beach, winners of the past two CIF-SS Division 1 titles. “We split games with them this summer but I’d put them No. 1 right now.”

Newport Harbor captured the preseason Fall Fling hosted by Foothill in late October, defeating Orange Lutheran 14-9 in the championship.

The Sailors are led by strong senior that class includes Taylor Smith (UCLA), Morgan Netherton (USC), Alex Love (Brown) and Lily Gess (UCLA). Junior Anna Reed is one of the top goalies in the county.

“That’s a good, talented group,” Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said of his team, which featured only one graduate in July when it placed second in the 18-and-under division at Junior Olympics.

Laguna Beach finished fifth at the Fall Fling. The Breakers graduated 11 seniors after last season.

“We’re excited for the challenge of rebuilding,” Damato said. “We’ve kind of been in this situation before where we graduate a big group and people think we’re going to a take a dip. It’s exciting to try to not let that happen.”

One of Laguna Beach’s top players is junior goalie Lauren Schneider.

Foothill defeated Mater Dei 9-4 in the third-place match at the Fall Fling.

The girls CIF playoffs, like the boys, will introduce a new, eight-team Open Division that could include teams from any division. The pairings will be released on Feb. 5.

Other county teams to watch this winter: Santa Margarita, Corona del Mar, San Clemente and Huntington Beach.

SKIP SHOTS

The Holiday Cup (Dec. 29-30) and Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions (Jan.7-8) will be played in consecutive weeks. …

Newport Harbor will host a new, eight-team invitational Jan. 27-29 featuring the Sailors, Laguna Beach, San Marcos, Carlsbad, The Bishop’s, Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran and Foothill, Sinclair said. …

Irvine coach Ray Wong said the Vaqueros will play host to their SoCal tournament on the same weekend. …

San Marcos could be the strongest of the Santa Barbara-area teams. …

Foothill features a key transfer in junior center Rachel Gazzaniga from Orange Lutheran. She helped SoCal capture the 18-and-under crown at Junior Olympics in July. Gazzaniga, along with senior Grace Cuozzo from Orange Lutheran, will observe the sitout period for Foothill. …

Sunny Hills coach Keith Nighswonger is two wins shy of 1,000 career victories in boys and girls water polo.