Girls’ Water Polo: Laguna still on top
IRVINE — What’s the only thing quicker than the counterattack for the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team?
That would be the speed with which the Breakers ran off the pool deck late Saturday afternoon at Woollett Aquatics Center.
Top-seeded Laguna Beach had just won its fourth straight Irvine Southern California Championships tournament title after besting No. 2-seeded Mater Dei, 14-7, in the title match. But after taking a quick team picture, the Breakers wanted to leave to get ready for the Laguna Beach winter formal Saturday night at Coto Valley Country Club.
“They asked me, win or lose, could they get out of here really quick?” Laguna Beach Coach Ethan Damato said. “I’m like, if we win, they can get out of here really quick. If we lose, no promises.”
Losing has not been on the agenda this season for the Breakers (25-0), who boasted four all-tournament team selections. Senior Aria Fischer, who scored six goals in the final, earned Most Outstanding Field Player honors. Junior goalie Thea Walsh, who made 15 saves in the final, was named Most Outstanding Goalie. Laguna seniors Claire Sonne and Bella Baldridge also made the all-tournament team.
Other local teams also competed. Corona del Mar, led by all-tournament team selections Chloe Harbilas and Erin Tharp, finished sixth. The Sea Kings won a fifth-place semifinal over Foothill, 8-5, before falling to Orange Lutheran, 8-7, in the fifth-place match.
The Laguna Beach junior varsity team, a last-minute addition after Newport Harbor pulled out of the tournament, finished in 16th place after losing the 15th-place match, 12-11 in overtime, to Los Osos.
Edison was the other local team in the tournament and played Saturday in the 25th-place bracket. Results were not available.
For Laguna Beach’s varsity squad, it was another dominant run to a tournament title. The Breakers beat No. 4-seeded Dos Pueblos, 11-5, in the tournament semifinals earlier Saturday.
Laguna Beach has two more games in the regular season, the Orange Coast League finale against Estancia on Wednesday and a nonleague game against Orange Lutheran on Thursday. The Breakers appear to have locked up the No. 1 seed for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.
“I’m really proud of the girls,” Damato said. “I feel like they really showed up today in both games, with different types of challenges. Against Dos Pueblos, we played a great first half, and it was kind of the opposite in the final. [We had our] backs against the wall and had a great second half. I’m just really proud of the team effort.”
The Breakers have now beaten Mater Dei four times this season, including in the finals of each of the three major tournaments along the way. Juniors Sophia Lucas and Evan Tingler each scored two goals for Laguna in Saturday’s final, with Baldridge (two assists), Sonne, Alex Peros and Alana Evans adding one goal each.
Fischer had two field blocks and two exclusions drawn for Laguna, which converted four of five power play chances and also had Fischer make two penalty shots.
For the second straight game against Mater Dei (20-5), though, the Breakers had to battle some foul trouble. Lucas, who returned recently from a finger injury, was kicked out twice in the first quarter. Fischer and Sonne both earned their second kick-out in the third quarter, but none of the three standout players ended up fouling out.
The score was tied, 2-2, after the first quarter, but the Breakers got two goals by Fischer and a counterattack goal by Tingler to earn a 5-2 halftime advantage. Mater Dei, led by Bella Baia and Hannah Constandse with two goals each, never got closer than two goals the rest of the way.
A day before the Super Bowl, the football final score of 14-7 suited the Breakers just fine.
“We were able to get contributions from some other players to score goals, as well as defensively,” Damato said. “Another great team win for the girls. I thought Evan Tingler was awesome. She had to step up and match up, and she had some big goals for us as well.”
Walsh, who made 62 total saves in the five-game tournament, continued anchoring the defense throughout.
“I think it’s pretty fitting [for her to be named Most Outstanding Goalie],” Damato said. “I think she’s been the best goalie that I’ve seen so far this year. I’m really proud of her. I think we play great defense in front of her, but we’re really confident with letting people shoot with her behind us.”
The Breakers were eager to face Dos Pueblos in the semifinal win, as it was the only elite Division 1 team that Laguna hadn’t yet faced this season. And the Breakers turned the game into a blowout, racing to a 9-1 halftime lead.
Fischer also had six goals in the semifinal win, with Lucas scoring three and Baldridge and Tingler adding single goals. Baldridge, Evans, Peros, Fischer and Lucas all had two steals.
“Our whole team is playing phenomenal defense right now, and it starts with Thea,” Damato said. “We countered really well ... we ran some help [defense] on Ryann [Neushul] and Abbi [Hill]. Aria and Sophia matched up on them, and then we were off to the races on the counterattack. I thought we had them scrambling; they couldn’t quite catch up to us defensively. I thought we played maybe our best half of the season in that first half.”
A perfect regular season is now in sight for the Breakers. Laguna Beach has been simply dominant this season, winning every game by at least five goals.
Over the last four years, the Breakers have won 11 of the 12 major in-season tournaments (Holiday Cup, Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and Irvine Southern California Championships).
“It’s kind of surreal, to be honest,” Damato said. “I’m sure it’s something that I’ll look back on later, but right now, in the moment, I’m really proud of the girls. I think it speaks to this senior and junior class, and the people that came before them. It’s pretty special.”
The Breakers have played recently without junior defender Isabel Riches (concussion). Damato said the team hopes to get her back in time for the CIF playoffs.
CdM TAKES SIXTH
The Sea Kings also had a good tournament. Seeded seventh, they outperformed that seeding by a spot, and their 8-5 win over Foothill on Saturday morning should move them up in the Division 1 rankings.
Coach Kevin Ricks’ Sea Kings (17-8) also nearly beat tournament finalist Mater Dei in the quarterfinals on Friday night, and led for much of the game against No. 5-seeded Orange Lutheran.
Ricks said his team played four straight physical games against Santa Barbara, Mater Dei, Foothill and Orange Lutheran.
“I thought the girls did a really good job of maintaining their composure all weekend long,” Ricks said. “And I thought we played some really high-level polo in all four games. We did some really smart things.”
Chloe Harbilas had three goals for team-high honors against Foothill, adding two assists. Senior Jaleh Moaddeli had two goals, two assists and two steals, while Emily Ritner and Sophie Wallace also scored. Goalie Erin Tharp made 11 saves and had two assists for CdM, which beat Foothill for the second time in three matches this season.
Harbilas also had three goals against Orange Lutheran, with Ritner scoring twice and Wallace and Sarah Lawson adding single goals. Tharp made nine saves.
The Lancers’ Myna Simmons scored the game-winning goal, her fifth, with 57 seconds remaining after earning a power play. After her defender was excluded, she was open in front of the cage.
“Toward the fourth quarter, we lost our composure, and that’s where it started to break down,” Harbilas said. “We started just scrambling. We had opportunities, but we just passed too high or made the wrong read.”
Still, the Sea Kings look to be headed into the Division 1 playoffs with momentum.
“This tournament has been one of the best tournaments that I’ve ever seen us play as a team together,” Tharp said. “We really fought for each other, I thought.”
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