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Orange Lutheran’s girls water polo team tops a high-powered field for the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup, which runs Friday and Saturday at Corona del Mar and Foothill, respectively.
The Lancers, who are the No. 1 seed and two-time defending tournament champion, enters their opener Friday morning against Murrieta Valley riding a 36-match winning streak.
Orange Lutheran is 5-0 so far this winter and finished 31-0 last season en route to claiming a second consecutive CIF-SS Open Division title.
The Lancers have posted the fast start despite coach Brenda Villa and junior attacker Allison Cohen missing time due to a U.S. national team commitment.
The U.S. women’s squad, featuring Cohen on the roster and Villa as an assistant coach, claimed the gold at the Pan American championships in Colombia in late November.
The Holiday Cup’s other top teams are No. 2 seed Oaks Christian (6-0), Newport Harbor (8-1), San Marcos, Mater Dei (3-1), Foothill (4-2), Long Beach Wilson (7-2), Corona del Mar (8-0), Laguna Beach (0-5) and San Clemente (2-2).
Up-and-coming Beckman rounds out Orange County’s entries. All the teams were in O.C. preseason rankings.
San Marcos and Long Beach Wilson finished second and third, respectively, behind The Bishop’s at the Villa Park Classic last month.
Orange Lutheran’s road to a third straight title appears challenging.
The Lancers could face the Corona del Mar-Laguna Beach winner in the quarterfinals Friday at Corona del Mar at 1:55 p.m. In the semifinals, Orange Lutheran could encounter San Marcos or Trinity League rival Mater Dei.
The tournament semifinals and finals are Saturday at Corona del Mar. The semifinals are 10:40 a.m. and 11:45 a.m. with the final scheduled for 4:05 p.m.
Tournament host Newport Harbor isn’t a site because its pool is being refurbished.
The Holiday Cup will spotlight a few players who recently committed to colleges. The players include Corona del Mar senior Didi Evans (Princeton) and Mater Dei goalies Sienna Sorensen (USC) and Sunny Brown (Indiana) and attacker Penny Mauser (Indiana).
Please send water polo news to Dan Albano at dalbano@scng.com or @ocvarsityguy
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