Girls’ Water Polo:

CORONA DEL MAR — Early in the fourth quarter, Aaron Chaney had seen enough.

“Everybody out, except Pippa [Saunders]!” Chaney yelled to his players during Friday’s nonleague game against Laguna Beach.

A whole new line went into the game, but the Corona del Mar High girls’ water polo team still couldn’t put the ball into the net.

The Sea Kings struggled in the second half and fell, 8-3, in their final game before the CIF Southern Section Division I playoffs. Not the way the young CdM team wanted to go into CIF, especially not against a Breakers team that the Sea Kings had already topped twice earlier this season.

Friday’s win was the first time Laguna Beach, the top-ranked team in Division II, had beaten its former Pacific Coast League rival since the 2007 CIF Masters Tournament.

“We were absolutely horrible,” Chaney said. “ ... We looked confused out there; we didn’t know what to do. [It was] like we never played water polo before.”

The Sea Kings (19-8), who now await the release of the Division I bracket at 11 a.m. Sunday, had chances against the Breakers. They pulled even at 3-3 midway through the third quarter after Cassidy Papa converted a five-meter penalty shot. It concluded a bizarre sequence, started when Breakers goalie Etianne Manetta was called for an exclusion going for a steal. A Laguna Beach field player blocked CdM’s subsequent shot but Manetta also touched the ball, giving CdM the penalty shot.

But the Sea Kings, ranked No. 5 in Division I, were held scoreless for the final 11:25 of the game.

“That [penalty shot] was kind of lucky, too,” Chaney said. “ If the goalie wasn’t there, we don’t even score the goal. We really only got two goals that game.”

Laguna Beach (19-8) got two goals from sophomore Yoshi Andersen and two goals from Stanford-bound senior Lexie Ross, despite good set defense from CdM senior Claire Eadington and freshman Ally McCormick, among others.

Breakers Coach Ethan Damato said his team made it a focus to stop Saunders, the sophomore center who leads CdM with 41 goals but was held scoreless Friday.

“She has killed us both times that we played them,” said Damato, whose Breakers fell to CdM at the Holiday Cup and Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions. “If she’s not scoring, she commands a drop, and she lets the rest of their team get going. We watched the film and saw which side they like to get it to, and we tried to take that side away and get them into their second option right away.”

Senior Margot Money had two goals and two steals for the Sea Kings, who also struggled in their six-on-five, converting just one of six opportunities. Laguna converted four of its five player-advantage opportunities.

“I think we should have been attacking more and moving in,” Money said. “We were too timid in the game; we were too passive. We needed to keep on attacking and not just look for set, because we had open girls everywhere.”

Sophomore goalie Alex Musselman made six saves for CdM. Ally McCormick and senior Victoria Kent each had assists on Money’s goals.

Sea Kings seniors Adina Zepfel, Katie McCormick, Kent, Money and Eadington were honored before the game on senior day. Zepfel has committed to play at George Washington University, where she will join former CdM standout Allison Peotter.