Breakers get back to winning
The Laguna Beach High boys’ and girls’ soccer teams and girls’ water polo teams all were in action during the past week, and the girls’ water polo squad again went into the win column with a big road victory.
The Breakers played a key, nonleague game Saturday in the Corona del Mar pool, and defeated the sixth-ranked Sea Kings, 7-2, to notch their second victory in two meetings with their rival this year.
Freshman attacker Sophie Leggett led the scoring with three goals. Junior attacker Bella Baldridge (three assists) and senior attacker Haley Evans (four steals) both scored twice, and senior goalie Holly Parker had four saves and a pair of steals.
The Breakers previously blanked the Sea Kings, 7-0, in the Dec. 30 semifinals of Holiday Cup.
They again were shutting out the Sea Kings late into the fourth quarter of Saturday’s game.
“We had a great first quarter going up 3-0, outscored them [4-0] going late in the fourth, and led, 7-0, with three minutes left in the game,” Laguna Coach Ethan Damato said. “I was very pleased with the way we played defensively. We will look to improve on our offensive execution and six-on-five.”
The Breakers, 16-2 overall and ranked No. 2 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, head to the Inland Empire Saturday to take on M.L. King in a 10 a.m. nonleague game at Riverside Poly High.
Next week, the Breakers return to Orange Coast League play Wednesday for a 3:15 p.m. home game against Estancia. They’ll also play in the Irvine SoCal Championships, a tournament they’ve won the past two years, which starts Thursday and runs through Feb. 6.
Their Wednesday OCL game against Saddleback was canceled and will be rescheduled a date to be determined, Damato said.
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Girls’ Soccer
The Breakers, ranked sixth in CIF-SS Division 5, began the second round of Orange Coast League play Thursday against Godinez. The score wasn’t available at press time.
In a league game Jan. 21 at Centennial Park in Santa Ana, the Breakers fell to fifth-ranked Calvary Chapel, 3-1. Freshman forward Blake Turner scored with the assist going to freshman defender Shanai Auguis for the Breakers.
All the scoring was done in the second half.
The loss was the first in league play for the Breakers who fell to 4-1 and 9-4-2 overall.
Calvary Chapel held the league lead heading into Thursday’s action.
“We have been devastated with injuries this year and are playing with a skeleton squad,” Laguna Coach Bill Rolfing said. “The ninth- and 10th-graders have really stepped up. Senior central defenders, Chiara Noppenberger and Summer Stanaland, are sorely missed due to knee injuries. However, the girls have been posting a strong performance including their recent, eight-match win streak. One match at a time, from this point forward.”
The Breakers play a pair of league games next week beginning with a 5 p.m. Tuesday home match at Guyer Field against Costa Mesa. They travel Thursday for a 3:15 p.m. match at Saddleback.
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Boys’ Soccer
The Breakers ended the first round of Orange Coast League play Jan. 22 Centennial Park and fought Calvary Chapel to a scoreless tie.
“Sometimes, you simply have to hold your hands up and say, ‘we weren’t good enough,’” Breakers Coach Dan Richards said. “Our failure to beat Calvary fell squarely on our shoulders and we can’t have any complaints about the result. We had enough of the ball and created plenty of good chances but just didn’t convert them.”
The result put the Breakers at 0-3-2 in league and 2-4-6 overall.
They begin the second round of league play Friday in fifth place in the team standings.
“The first half of our OCL campaign has been very frustrating for the team,” Richards said. “We have let ourselves down at crucial moments in games and find ourselves with a huge mountain to climb. The lads know they have more talent than what their league position would suggest but when all is said and done, if the results aren’t there and we don’t take care of business at either end of the field, we can’t complain if we don’t make the playoffs.
“We are in a position where we basically have to win out to progress to CIF. This is obviously a tall order in such a strong conference but is what we aim to do. Having Godinez as our first game of the second round will be tough but also will give the boys a great chance to start getting things right from the outset.”
Godinez, ranked No. 2 in CIF-SS Division 4, comes calling on the Breakers who host the league match at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Guyer Field.
The Breakers also host Costa Mesa in a 6:30 p.m. league game on Wednesday.
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Surfing
Laguna earned another victory Sunday in Event No. 3 of the Scholastic Surf Series by defeating Santa Margarita in the team competition at the south side of the Huntington Beach Pier. The Breakers were represented and had winners in each of the division finals.
Five Breakers reached the Boys’ Shortboard finals which was won by Jake Levine. Liam McCue was runner-up, Noah North finished in third place, Zach Levine placed fourth, and Jett North was sixth.
Ryan Meisburger gave a strong performance in the Boys’ Longboard competition and won the event. Teammates Gaal Shonfeld and Jameson Roller finished third and fourth, respectively.
In Girls’ Longboard, Anika Pitz was injured but still won the competition. Lola Fisher was behind Pitz in second place.
In Girls’ Shortboard, Destiny Thompson charged hard and finished third.
Laguna’s Travis Booth also earned an impressive victory. An alternate in the Bodyboard final, Booth put on a big performance and easily won the event.
Laguna will compete in its next series event Feb. 21.
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CIF Weekly Rankings
Girls’ Water Polo: No. 2, Division 1.
Girls’ Soccer: No. 6, Division 5.
