Girls water polo

Division I quarterfinals

Friday

No. 9 Mater Dei at No. 2 Newport Harbor, 3:15

Prediction: This is where Mater Dei’s so-so schedule finally catches up with them. The young Monarchs step into the deep end against a physical, fast and experienced Division I contender. Mater Dei also plays very hard and has excellent speed but the Monarchs will play at a new speed against the Lady Tars. Mater Dei’s Chelsea Silvers needs to be aggressive with the scoring chances she gets but she could be headed for a matchup with rising junior Kaleigh Gilchrist. In a nonleague match against El Toro, Gilchrist impressed the heck out of me with some outstanding defense against another very good attacker – Larissa Todisco. I doubt these teams have seen much of each other but I believe Mater Dei’s program is headed in a direction that will bring the two together more often. But this season, Newport is just too crafty but this will be entertaining. Newport has vetran Olympic coach Bill Barnett and Mater Dei has a former Olympic player in Chris Segesman. Both coaches like physical defense and the counter.

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