Schneider sisters make their mark for Laguna Beach girls’ water polo
Lauren Schneider has been a mainstay of the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team the last four years.
The senior goalkeeper, bound for USC, has been starting since she was a freshman. Her résumé is unmatched.
The Breakers won CIF her freshman year, and were big favorites to do so again her sophomore year before the coronavirus forced a cancellation of the playoffs. Last year Laguna Beach was young, after graduating an 11-player senior class, but Schneider helped lead the Breakers back to the Open Division title match before falling to Newport Harbor.
The Schneiders seem to be multiplying on the pool deck this year.
Lauren’s twin sister Jordan, a one-two side attacker headed to the University of Michigan, has stepped into a much larger role as a senior. And even freshman Brooke, one of the program’s top junior varsity players as a four-five side attacker, also sometimes plays on varsity.
“I think we really balance each other out,” Lauren said. “Jordan is like calm and serious, and Brooke is a mix of us. I’m a little bit more out there. It’s like the perfect combo.”
The sisters moved with their parents, John and Caroline, from El Paso, Texas when Lauren and Jordan were 9 years old. They had been swimmers in Texas, but quickly found the sport of water polo.
A year later, Brooke started playing at the age of 6.
By the time the twins got to high school, Lauren made a difference right away. Even with the COVID-19 year that limited teams to three weeks of games, she came into her senior season with 514 saves in her career, fifth in the program’s all-time annals.
“[Starting as a freshman] was something I was working for my whole middle school career,” said Lauren, who has 82 saves already this season through Thursday. “I was really nervous. I didn’t want to let the older girls down. I’m this freshman, and I didn’t want to be the reason that they lose or anything. It was a lot of pressure, but it was amazing.”
Jordan, meanwhile, was on JV until last year. But she has really blossomed as a senior, where her speed aids the Breakers’ counterattack. Through Thursday, she accumulated five goals and 11 assists for Laguna; the assists total is second on the team.
“Last year was definitely a lot of learning,” Jordan said. “The practices were always really intense, and I feel like I was able to influence a lot in practices. This year, I’ve been working toward doing stuff in the game. I like making a lot of connections with Charlotte [Riches] in set, and it’s fun to make plays with Lauren on the counterattack. I feel like that’s my biggest role, the counterattack, and creating on offense.”
Brooke said her older sisters have been an inspiration growing up. She played mostly set defender before entering high school, which worked out well whenever the sisters would train together. Jordan would be the attacker, Brooke the guard and Lauren the goalkeeper.
“I always wanted to be as fast as Jordan,” Brooke said. “It was just nice to relate to them. If I was the only person playing water polo [in the family], that would just kind of suck.”
Lauren said with a smile that she’s jealous of Brooke because she has her own bedroom at home, while Lauren and Jordan have always shared a room with two twin-sized beds. Still, she notes with pride that her freshman sister is the class president at Laguna Beach High.
“She’s making her own path,” Lauren said. “She don’t need our name. She’s a social butterfly.”
The twins both admit the season has been up and down so far for Laguna Beach (5-4), but with glimpses of potential. The Breakers finished fourth in the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup last weekend, yet none of the team’s four losses so far has been by more than two goals.
The Breakers open Surf League play at defending champion Newport Harbor on Wednesday at 3:30 p.m.
Though Orange Lutheran (9-0) has established itself as the top team, Laguna Beach is one of several other contenders.
“We all know that we can do it,” Jordan said. “It’s pretty much the same team as last year, and I would say last year’s teams were a lot stronger. With this year, if we play our game, then we’ve got it. Obviously other teams can play better, but recently we haven’t been playing to our potential.”
Lauren is now the player with the most varsity experience, and the Breakers know that they don’t have to worry about her play in goal. Her quirky personality — often joking and smiling — can create light moments, yet her teammates know that she has their back.
“I think I’m just honest,” she said. “I’m just real about it. You know where you’re at with me ... The craziness helps a little bit. You kind of need to be a little crazy to be really good at water polo.”
Coach Claire Sonne, in her first year guiding her alma mater at Laguna Beach, is certainly glad to have the Schneider twins on the deck for one more year.
“As much as they are different, I think they’re the same in the sense that they have huge hearts, all three of them,” Sonne said. “They bicker like sisters do, of course, but at the end of the day you know that they have each other’s back, and the team’s back. They’re willing to put everything on the line for the good of the team.
“I feel really lucky to have their leadership, their hard work, their heart, as a core part of this team.”
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