Four local girls’ water polo teams seeded in CIF Southern Section playoffs

For the first time since 2013, the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team is not the top seed for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs.

The defending champion Breakers, going for their fourth title in five years, are definitely still in the conversation. They learned that they are the No. 2 seed in Division 1 when the section released the playoff brackets on Saturday morning.

Three other local teams earned seeds. Corona del Mar is the No. 4 seed in Division 1, and Newport Harbor is the No. 2 seed in Division 2. The final seeded team is Los Amigos, which earned the No. 7 seed in Division 7.

Goleta Dos Pueblos, the team that beat the Breakers 8-6 in the Irvine Southern California Championships title match on Feb. 3, earned the top seed in Division 1 ahead of Laguna Beach. The Breakers (21-2) open the Division 1 playoffs with a home quarterfinal match against Santa Barbara San Marcos (16-11) on Thursday.

It will be the teams’ second meeting in less than a week after Orange Coast League champion Laguna Beach beat Channel League runner-up San Marcos 10-3 on Friday in its nonleague regular-season finale at Dos Pueblos High. Laguna Beach coach Ethan Damato said he’s all right with the Breakers earning the No. 2 seed in CIF.

“This season has been so filled with ups and downs from stuff outside of water polo that we can’t really control,” said Damato, whose team was unable to travel to the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions after it was rescheduled last month due to the closure of Highway 101. “I still think we have our best water polo in front of us. I thought we played well at the Irvine tournament, but I think we’re a lot better. We’re motivated to work hard and get where we need to go. I think this group is primed and ready to make a run in CIF.”

Corona del Mar also earned a home match in the quarterfinal round of Division 1 on Thursday. The Pacific Coast League champion Sea Kings (21-5) will tangle with Crestview League champion Foothill (18-9). The Sea Kings are 2-0 against the Knights, though both games came early in the season.

The top eight teams in the Division 1 and 2 poll, using power rankings and the discretion of the coaches’ advisory committee, made the Division 1 playoffs. Newport Harbor was on the outside looking in, but now the Sailors can try to make a run in Division 2 as the No. 2 seed.

The Sailors (14-9), the Sunset League runner-up, will play against South Coast League runner-up El Toro (13-15) in the first round on Thursday.

Huntington Beach (15-8), which finished third in the Sunset League, also will vie in Division 2. The Oilers have a Division 2 wildcard game on Tuesday at Santa Margarita (19-7), the third-place team from the Trinity League.

Los Amigos, the Garden Grove League runner-up and No. 2 seed in Division 7, plays host to the third-place team from the San Andreas League, Bell Gardens, in a first-round game Thursday. The Lobos (19-6) will be trying to advance to the CIF finals for the second time in program history; they were Division 7 finalists in 2012.

“The girls have been working toward this,” Lobos coach Chris Roman said. “They draw motivation from that [2012] team.”

In Division 4, Golden West League runner-up Ocean View (14-12) plays host to Pasadena Westridge (10-18) in a wildcard game Tuesday.

Costa Mesa (15-14), the Orange Coast League runner-up, plays at Fullerton (21-7) in a Division 5 first-round game on Wednesday.

matthew.szabo@latimes.com

Twitter: @mjszabo