High School Roundup: Laguna Beach boys’ soccer opens season with shutout

The Laguna Beach High boys’ soccer team opened its 2015-16 season Wednesday, and the Breakers went into the win column right off the bat with a shutout victory.

Laguna took a 1-0 halftime lead on visiting Beckman and made James Langton’s goal stand in taking a 1-0 decision from the Patriots at Guyer Field.

“It’s great to get a win in our opening game along with a shutout,” Laguna Coach Dan Richards said. “There is definitely a lot of room for improvement and areas we will need to look at moving forward.”

Langton, a sophomore midfielder/forward, scored off an assist from junior midfielder Matt Hodes in the opening half.

“James took his goal very well after a great through ball from Matt,” Richards said.

“There were some nice moments here and there in the game but the boys will have to be a lot more consistent if they want to stay competitive. There were some good individual performances with Sterling [Butler, sophomore defender] and Ben [Kieswetter, senior defender] both doing a great job in the center of our defense and Logan [Eastman, senior midfielder] had some very nice touches in the midfield.”

The Breakers face their first road test of the season Friday when they travel to Dana Hills for a 3 p.m. nonleague game against the Dolphins. They also are on the road Wednesday for a 7 p.m. nonleague game at El Toro.

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Boys’ Basketball

The Breakers earned their first victory of the 2015-16 season Wednesday by downing Loara, 41-32, in their second game of the Grizzly Invitational at Godinez High.

Sophomore forward Blake Burzell led the way for the Breakers with 12 points. Senior guard Darin Richardson had nine points, senior center Nick Rahder six points, senior guard Isaac Wulff five points, senior guard Spencer Wong three points, and sophomore guard Charlie Rounaghi, junior guard Karam Jones and sophomore forward Adam Armstrong rounded out the scoring with two points each.

“We had a much better effort defensively,” Laguna Coach Bret Fleming said in reference to the Breakers’ season-opening game Tuesday at the tournament.

In their tourney opener, the Breakers lost, 74-51, to Newport Harbor. Burzell scored 18 points, Rounaghi had 13 points, Wulff nine points, Richardson eight points and sophomore guard Owen McMurray added three points.

The Grizzly Invitational continues Friday and concludes Saturday.

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Girls’ Basketball

The Breakers are 1-1 through their first two games at the Corona del Mar Tournament.

In their second game, the Breakers toppled Mission Viejo, 54-40, Tuesday. After a tight first half in which Coach Mark Lewis said his team played “a bit sluggish,” the Breakers gained separation in the third quarter by outscoring the Diablos, 17-7, to take their lead to 41-26. The Breakers led by double digits the remainder of the game.

Senior forward Alexandra Lewis paced the Breakers scoring with 22 points, 18 of those points coming on six three-point shots in the second half. Senior guard/forward Jackie Cenan scored 14 points, junior guard Nicole Davidson 12 points (two three-pointers), junior forward Rachel Kenney four points, and sophomore guard Jasmine Banks added two points.

Lewis called the win a “good bounce back game” from a tournament-opening loss Monday to Segerstrom.

Laguna led most of the way against Segerstrom — and held a five-point lead with 2:30 remaining, but the Jaguars capitalized on a number of offensive rebounds and took a one-point lead with one minute left in regulation. Cenan hit one of two free-throw attempts to pull the Breakers into a 41-41 tie, and the game went to overtime.

The Jaguars shut out the Breakers in OT to emerge with a 47-41 win.

Cenan and Lewis (four three-pointers) led Laguna in scoring with 18 points each. Davidson and Kenney had three and two points, respectively.

Laguna started its season Nov. 25 with a scrimmage against Dana Hills at Staples Center, and got the win on a put-back basket by Lewis (three three-pointers) off a missed free throw in the final minute.

“It was a great event, overall,” Mark Lewis said. “The girls playing on the Staples Center floor, being able to watch the NBA players shoot around from court side, and the halftime activities, wherein players and coaches from both teams were escorted to the tunnel by locker room to form a ‘high-five’ tunnel line to give the [Los Angeles] Clippers players high-fives as they returned to the court for the third quarter. It was truly one of those lifetime memorable events for all.”

The Corona del Mar Tournament continues Friday and concludes with finals games played Saturday and hosted by the Breakers at Dugger Gym.

Laguna opens play Tuesday at the Holiday Hawk Classic hosted by Ocean View High. The Breakers play their first two games at the Ocean View gymnasium, taking on Rancho Alamitos at 3 p.m. Tuesday, and Garden Grove at 3 p.m. Wednesday. Their third tourney game is a 3 p.m. Thursday matchup with Newport Harbor at Garden Grove Pacifica High.

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Girls’ Water Polo

The two-time defending CIF Southern Section Division 1 champions, again No. 1 in the preseason Division 1 preseason rankings, opened their season Thursday at Rosary. The score wasn’t available at press time.

The Breakers play their home opener Tuesday against Edison in a 3:30 p.m. nonleague game.