Laguna has no equal in league

It’s been two years, and still the Laguna Beach girls’ water polo team hasn’t been knocked off in Orange Coast League play.

The Breakers concluded another perfect league season and won another title in the process Wednesday (Feb. 6) by easily defeating host Sage Hill, 14-1, at the Corona del Mar High pool.

The victory gave Laguna a 3-0 league record and improved the Breakers to 19-7 overall.

“It was pretty much expected,” Laguna co-head coach Chad Beeler said of Laguna’s cruising to a repeat as league champion. “Sage only had eight players, and I commend them for the effort they gave. It’s tough for a team to be so short-handed.”

The Breakers began the week with a 21-7 drubbing of host Mission Viejo. Lexie Ross posted six goals to power a Laguna offense that also saw Annika Dries, Taylor Dodson and Jessie Holechek each score four goals, Natasha Schulman score twice and Lauren Elliott once.

Holechek also had six assists, Schulman five assists and Dries and Dodson three assists apiece.

Dries and Dodson had five and four steals, respectively, and Sarah Zuziak had three saves.

Last weekend, Laguna posted a 3-2 record, good for a 10th-place finish, at the three-day Southern California Championships held at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.

The Breakers began the tournament with a 15-5 win over Esperanza on Jan. 31 but lost later that day, 10-7, to Coronado of the CIF-San Diego Section. They came back Friday to dump Whittier, 14-5, on Feb. 1 and defeated Montebello, 11-7, on Saturday.

Also Saturday, their tournament run came to an end in a 9-8 loss to Santa Barbara.

“We didn’t play all that well,” Beeler said of Laguna’s tournament showing. “We handled Esperanza but got knocked off by Coronado.

“It’s a tough tournament with some really good teams in it, and you have to play at your best in order to do well. We didn’t.”

The fourth-ranked Breakers have one more tough test before they begin the CIF-SS Division II playoffs next week: a 3:15 p.m. nonleague match today at Corona del Mar.

The Sea Kings, who lost 3-2 in overtime to Newport Harbor in the championship game of the Southern California Championships last Saturday, are the top-ranked team in Division I.

Laguna and Corona del Mar have already met this season: the Sea Kings rallied in the fourth quarter of a Jan. 11 game at the Tournament of Champions in Santa Barbara to claim a 6-5 victory over the Breakers.

“This is one last good game to get us going for CIF,” Beeler said. “It will help the girls realize the level that they’ll need to play at in the playoffs.

“I expect it to be a good game that could go either way. We’ll be the underdog, but I know we’ll be right there.”