Girls’ Water Polo: Laguna’s juniors get it done
The term “role player” can tend to have a negative connotation in athletics, but not on the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team.
The Breakers’ four seniors are known quantities. Aria Fischer is an Olympic gold medalist who will play at Stanford, where she will be joined by senior lefty Bella Baldridge. Senior Claire Sonne will play at Cal, and Angelique Begay has been a mainstay in the program for a long time as well.
Of Laguna’s seven starters, though, four of them are juniors. They may be role players, but those roles are pretty important on the best high school girls’ water polo team in Southern California.
It’s a deep, talented nine-player class of 2018 that has also helped Laguna Beach return to the CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match, where the top-seeded Breakers (30-0) will play No. 3-seeded Santa Barbara San Marcos (26-5) for the title at 5:30 p.m. Saturday at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.
The Breakers’ nine juniors are goalie Thea Walsh, Evan Tingler, Sophia Lucas, Alex Peros, Isabel Riches, Alana Evans, Danielle Borelli, Audrey Duffy and Kyla Whitelock. The first six names on that list have all been major contributors in the water for Laguna Beach, which is trying for its second undefeated season in three years.
“We have such a great bond,” Tingler said. “We have such great chemistry that when you win, or you make a great pass, or you go through a hard practice, it makes it that much better sharing it with your best friends. It makes everything so much more worth it.”
That chemistry has been born through years of playing water polo together. The summer before their freshman year, they definitely showed they were winners. Seven of the players were on the Laguna 14-and-under club team that won the gold medal at the 2014 USA Water Polo Junior Olympics. The new addition is Peros, a transfer from Dana Hills.
“It was so amazing to win JOs with these girls,” said Evans, whose older sister Haley is a Laguna polo graduate who now plays at UCLA. “We’re all best friends, and we’ve all been through big games so many times. I think all of the resilience we’ve had will really help us with this final game [Saturday], help us to win and play our best. Knowing each other so well outside the pool really helps with how well we play in the pool.”
Laguna Coach Ethan Damato said each of the juniors knows her role. Walsh’s role is obvious, as perhaps the best goalie in the CIF Southern Section. She earned Most Outstanding Goalie honors at the Irvine Southern California Championships, which was the third major in-season tournament that the Breakers won this season.
The three senior captains are also the Breakers’ top three scorers, but Lucas is right there in fourth place with 50 goals, despite missing time during the season with a finger injury. The two-year starter had a great game Wednesday night in a 14-4 Division 1 semifinal win over Dos Pueblos, scoring all three of her goals in the first half. Defensively, Fischer and Lucas were tasked with guarding the Chargers’ talented duo of Ryann Neushul and Abbi Hill, who combined for just one goal, Neushul scoring in the fourth quarter with the game comfortably in hand.
Tingler is fourth on the team with 39 goals, and is a smart player who does all of the little things. The speedy Peros, who played varsity on Dana Hills, has 37 goals. She has been starting lately as she takes the sprints.
Riches, who also missed time at the end of the regular season with a concussion, is listed as a defender but really is a utility player for the Breakers. And Evans is a reliable player off the bench who provides a lot of energy.
“It’s one of the most talented classes we’ve ever had, no question,” Damato said. “The coolest thing about that group of juniors is there’s not one major star, but just a bunch of really great individuals that make each other better. They all kind of know what their role is, and they’ve accepted that role. On top of that, they’re just incredibly intelligent and incredibly competitive. They’re winners.”
Being that role player isn’t a problem for the Breakers, but when injuries have happened, people step up. With Lucas out midway through the season, Tingler had back-to-back great offensive games, scoring three goals in key nonleague victories over Corona del Mar on Jan. 20 and Mater Dei the next day. Riches also stepped up for two goals in the latter game as well.
Clearly, nobody is afraid to step up at the right time.
“If you’re going to double-team Aria, try that, we’ll score from somewhere else,” Tingler said. “If you’re going to try to double-team Aria and Bella, good luck with that. At all times in the pool, we have six players who are going to attack you and shoot. You can’t leave any of us open. You give us the chance, we’re going to score, and that makes us deadly.”
The seniors certainly appreciate the juniors’ help. Fischer knows how important they are for the program to keep winning. It’s something she knows a lot about, as she has lost just one time in her three-year high school career, and never in the postseason.
“All of them add something so different and so essential to our team,” Fischer said. “When we’re all playing together, juniors and seniors, I think we complement each other really well. They’re just an essential part of our team. They have grown into their roles this year, and it’s been great to see. We need each and every one of them.”
Yes, maybe they are role players. But those aren’t bad words. Even on a team this talented, talent alone won’t win the championship. Everyone plays her role, plays the team game.
It’s why the Breakers have been able to amass a 118-4 record over the last four seasons heading into Saturday night. Being undefeated is hard to do in high school water polo, but Laguna Beach has made it look easy.
The seniors want to go out on top. The juniors plan to help them get there.
“Ethan always tells us that it doesn’t take that much to be a good team with good players, but it’s a whole different level having a great team with great players,” Peros said. “I think us playing San Marcos, we will prove ourselves to be that great team with great players.”
CIF Southern Section Division 1 championship match
No. 1 Laguna Beach (30-0) vs. No. 3 San Marcos (26-5)
Saturday, 5:30 p.m. at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center
Twitter: @mjszabo
