Newport Beach 12-and-under boys nab silver at USA Water Polo Junior Olympics

Los Angeles Times

4 days ago

IRVINE — The Newport Beach Water Polo Club 12-and-under boys certainly became more than familiar with Del Mar during the course of the club season.
The teams played six times, and Tuesday's gold medal match of the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics might have been the closest of all.
In the end, Del Mar goalkeeper Braxton Harp came up big.
Harp earned MVP honors, making two saves in a penalty shootout that Del Mar won 4-1 at Woollett Aquatics Center.
The teams were tied 10-10 after regulation, but only Pierce Clymer could score for Newport Beach in the shootout that followed.
'Honestly, they played their hearts out,' Newport Beach 12U coach Konstantinos Koulouris said of his silver-medal winners. 'They played so good. We were locked in from the beginning and very focused. I'm so proud of them for all of the performances that they had the whole weekend. It's hard to beat a team that you've lost to four times, you know.'
Del Mar improved to 4-2 against Newport Beach in the club season, including an 11-9 victory in the Junior Olympic quarterfinals on Monday. But the locals from Newport didn't quit there, beating Mission in a play-in game to the semifinals, where they edged Vanguard 7-7 (3-1 in a shootout) on Tuesday morning.
Clymer led Newport Beach with four goals in the gold medal match, and Tanner Thomas scored three. Dalton Horne added a pair of goals.
Playing at center, Evan Shackelford scored a late goal that gave Newport a 10-9 lead, and he also drew eight exclusions and a penalty shot in the final.
'Obviously, I want to score, that's my priority,' Shackelford said. 'But if I have to, I'll let go of the ball if [the defender] is on my back all of the time. I just want to shoot and score and celebrate with my teammates.'
Shackelford and Thomas helped Newport Beach foul out three Del Mar players. Del Mar finished the game without any substitutes available.
'That's our game plan,' Koulouris said. 'We tried to find small entry passes, draw the ejections and play quick. That's what they did … We tried to make some plays in order to put one more kid out, but it didn't work out. They're 12, and they're under pressure.
'It's a great lesson for them for the years after, right? They're going to play this team again multiple times in the future, maybe until they go to college. Del Mar is a great program, they work hard and they have a great coaching staff.'
Goalkeeper Finn Breneman made eight saves for Newport Beach, and Hayden Stout had three steals. Other contributors included Stryder Gregory, Griffin Harvey, Oliver Horowitz, Pierson Nichols, Wyatt Robinson, Logan Jameson and Cameron Berman.
Del Mar's Attila McCollum scored a late equalizer to send the match to overtime, one of his three goals, and Jason Robinson led the winners with four goals.
All of the Newport Beach players will be aging up to the 14-and-under age group next year, and they do hope to meet up with Del Mar again in the future.
'I think we showed up pretty well,' Thomas said. 'There were definitely things we needed to work on toward the end. It kept on going back and forth, which does get a little stressful at times. A few adjustments we need to make, and hopefully we can be back here in a few years with the same team and win it all.'
Other local boys' club teams also grabbed medals during Session One of the Junior Olympics. They included Newport Beach Blue 10U (bronze in platinum division), Newport Beach White 10U (bronze in gold division), Vanguard 12U (bronze in platinum division), Newport Beach White 12U (silver in classic bracket), Corona del Mar 14U (silver in gold division), Costa Mesa Aquatics Club 14U (bronze in invitational bracket), Vanguard Silver 16U (bronze in invitational bracket) and Vanguard Silver 18U (bronze in classic bracket).
Session Two, which features co-ed and female age divisions, begins Thursday and runs through Sunday.