Laguna Beach girls’ water polo wins round three against Newport Harbor
The Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team came into Tuesday’s Surf League showdown at Newport Harbor with a .500 record that was at least a bit misleading.
Six of the Breakers’ nine losses have come by two goals or fewer.
That made it even more satisfying to pull off a close victory.
Senior Ava Knepper and junior Kara Carver combined for nine goals as the Breakers gutted out a 10-9 overtime win that likely means the teams will share the league title.
Newport Harbor is now 3-1 in the Surf League with two matches remaining, while Laguna Beach is 2-1 in league with three matches to go. The Sailors, ranked No. 5 in CIF Southern Section Division 1, had edged out wins in both of the teams’ first two meetings, a league match last month as well as the fifth-place game of the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions on Saturday.
“It felt great,” Carver said. “It felt really nice to win, just because we’ve been losing by one to a lot of teams. It was nice to finally win by one.”
Carver scored a team-high five goals, but it was her defense that led to the game-winning goal for No. 6-ranked Laguna Beach. She caused a ball-under in the middle of the pool in the second overtime period, then drew an exclusion on the Newport Harbor player.
After swimming the ball down, Carver then fed Knepper for the goal with 43 seconds remaining. She laughed about causing the turnover after the match.
“[Monday] at practice, I kept going for the steal,” she said. “[Coach] Katie [Teets] was like, ‘Don’t go for the steal, those are such rare ball-unders.’ I don’t know, I kind of went rogue and did it. Thankfully it worked.”
Knepper had four goals, two assists and two steals for the Breakers, who got a goal and five assists from junior Presley Jones. Junior goalkeeper Siena Jumani made seven saves.
“I feel like had the momentum most of the entire game, and we stuck together,” Knepper said. “It’s one of those games where I just had a smile on my face the whole time and just was enjoying it.”
Laguna Beach used just two substitutes off the bench, with Claire Turner and Daniela Suh getting playing time late after senior center Emmy Hensley fouled out. But a lack of depth can also create cohesion.
“It’s really created a good chemistry with the girls in,” Carver said. “Now we’re all together, and moving together almost like a collegiate-level team. I thought our defense was great. We were going in and out of different zones, and Siena had some great blocks. It was a really well-rounded game.”
Junior Caitlin Stayt and freshman Valery Verdugo led Newport Harbor (12-6) with two goals each, and junior goalkeeper Lydia Soderberg made 10 saves.
Harper Price and Verdugo scored in the first overtime period, offsetting Knepper’s goal and giving the host Sailors a 9-8 advantage. But Carver’s goal, assisted by senior Sophie Colladay, tied it up in the second overtime before the Breakers got the game-winner.
“It’s hard to beat a good team three times,” Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said. “We talked about that, it was going to take a lot of focus. Credit to them, they came out in survival mode. You could see them playing with desperation … You could just sense it with the way they were playing, and I thought we got comfortable once we went up. We’ve got to learn how to win these games.”
Laguna Beach plays at Los Alamitos on Thursday in a Surf League match, while Newport Harbor plays at No. 2-ranked Foothill on Saturday in a nonleague match.
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