Easy victory goes as planned

Things turned out pretty much as expected Wednesday when Laguna Beach hosted Estancia in Orange Coast League girls’ water polo action.

The Breakers took a big lead early, got to work on different aspects of their game and everybody had a hand in an 18-3 rainy victory at the Laguna pool.

Wednesday’s match was the first league game for both teams.

“I think we did well considering that we were expected to win pretty easily,” Laguna co-Coach Chad Beeler said. “It was nice to be able to do a few things differently. In the first quarter, we worked on our counter, and in the second quarter, we worked on different defenses. We switched it up, subbed three girls in and three girls out at a time, and substituted freely.

“That was not done to take anything away from Estancia. In fact, I think that this is the best team that they’ve had in a while. They have some pretty good shooters with good outside shots. That surprised me a bit, but I’m happy for them.”

Laguna sprinted to a 10-0 lead in the first quarter.

Natasha Schulman led all scorers with five goals. Annika Dries scored four goals, Taylor Dodson and Lauren Elliott each scored twice and Lexie Ross, Arianna Ross and Hannah Fait each scored once.

Dries, Dodson, Fait, Jessica Holechek and Madison Duncan had two assists each.

Sarah Zuziak had two saves and also came up with an assist.

Wednesday’s win came on the heels of a tough, 13-12 loss at Villa Park in nonleague play on Jan. 18. In that game “” a battle between the second- and third-ranked teams in Division II “” Laguna held a 4-1 first-quarter lead and 6-3 advantage at the half. In the third quarter, however, the Spartans outscored the Breakers, 6-2, to take a one-goal lead into the fourth quarter.

Dries led Laguna offensively with three goals and six assists. Schulman and Holechek each scored three goals and had a pair of assists, Dodson and Ross each scored twice and Zuziak had three saves.

The nonleague match was the third of the season between the teams, and third time that the winner survived by a single goal.

Laguna defeated Villa Park, 11-10, at the Villa Park Classic in early December and also defeated the Spartans, 7-6, in the seventh-place game at the Tournament of Champions in Santa Barbara earlier this month.

“As I said before that game, it’s tough to beat a team three times in a season,” Beeler said. “We beat them three times last year and won the first two meetings this year.

“We actually came out and [jumped out] to a 6-3 lead at the half. But I didn’t think that the girls came out fired up much for the second half. Villa Park came out of their huddle fired up, and they played much better in the second half.”

The outcome of the Jan. 18 match had the teams switching spots in this week’s Division II poll, with Villa Park taking over Laguna’s No. 2 ranking.

Laguna will host fifth-ranked Palos Verdes at 3:15 p.m. Tuesday in another battle between top-10 teams.

The Breakers resume Orange Coast League play Wednesday, hosting Costa Mesa at 3:15 p.m.