Boys’ water polo: Laguna Beach overwhelms Murrieta Valley to reach CIF title match
IRVINE — These foreboding words are well-known: “I’m going to count to 10.”
They usually spell doom for the one that dares to test that hard limit.
Laguna Beach played the disciplinarian at the William Woollett Aquatics Center on the campus of Irvine High on Wednesday.
The Breakers defeated Murrieta Valley, 9-4, handing the Nighthawks their 10th and final loss of the season in the semifinals of the CIF Southern Section Division 2 boys’ water polo playoffs.
Colton Gregory scored four goals to lead the Breakers (21-9). Peter Weiland added two goals, and Camden Benson registered a goal and two assists.
Laguna Beach will face Santa Margarita in the CIF championship game Saturday. The match will be at Woollett Aquatics Center, but the time has yet to be determined.
The Eagles (25-6) defeated Ventura, 9-6, on Wednesday.
With Wednesday’s win, Laguna Beach knocked out last year’s Division 3 champion. It was the second time that the Breakers defeated Murrieta Valley (21-10), with Laguna Beach taking the first meeting, 10-7, on Oct. 1.
“Even though we got the victory earlier in the season, we knew that this was going to be much more difficult,” Breakers Coach Trevor Lyle said. “It definitely took a while for us to get some breathing room.”
It was a battle, indeed. Laguna Beach held a 2-1 advantage after the first. That lead doubled to 4-2 at the half, and the teams remained separated by two, 6-4, after three quarters.
The game was close, but the Breakers never had to play from behind. A big part of that was Benson’s success on the sprints. He was able secure the first possession of the first three quarters.
“We have a plan, and my job is to just get the sprints, start the game off right,” Benson said. “Colton Gregory had four amazing goals throughout the game. My sprints were just to lead to his goals, and that’s the game-plan.”
Gregory converted those opening possessions into goals in the second and third periods. The sophomore scored three straight Breakers’ goals from the start of the second quarter.
“I was feeling it,” Gregory said. “Things started getting going in the third and fourth quarters. We started to break away. I was feeling my shot. Things were going well.”
Goalie Gordon Pike made seven saves. The Breakers’ perimeter defense, led by Sebastian Jacobs and Judge Washer, allowed just one shot on goal in the fourth quarter.
One thing that the Breakers will have to clean up ahead of Saturday’s final is their power-play conversion rate. Laguna Beach was able to convert on just a third of its 6-on-5 opportunities.
Center Larsen McCarroll was responsible for a good portion of the nine exclusions drawn against Murrieta Valley.
“I thought that he forced them to make calls later on in that game with that deep position,” Lyle said. “Every time they tried to come over the top of him, he stayed nice and big, head up in the water, made a nice adjustment, and he earned some big 6-on-5’s for us.”
William Barnes had a goal and two assists, and Nicholas Rogers had two goals for Murrieta Valley.
