Can anyone beat the Laguna Beach High girls water polo team?
The Breakers roared through the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions over the weekend, beating Foothill in Saturday’s all-Orange County final, 9-5, at the Elings Aquatic Center at Dos Pueblos High.
It was the third win for the top-ranked team in CIF Division 1 against the No. 2 team in three weeks. The Breakers won 13-3 in the Newport Holiday Cup final and took a 6-5 decision in a non-league game before coming to Santa Barbara.
Laguna Beach is now 14-0 and riding a 37-game winning streak over the past two seasons. Its last loss was against Foothill last January.
San Marcos and Dos Pueblos hooked up for the second time this week. And, just like in their Channel League meeting, the Royals prevailed. They scored three unanswered goals in the last three minutes to pull out a 10-6 win in the seventh-place game. It’s their highest finish in program history.
Paige Hauschild played a strong game for San Marcos, scoring four goals (all in the first half) and playing solid defense. She earned all-tournament honors. Riley Heiduk and Megan Bergholdt each scored two goals and goalie Jenna Phreaner made nine saves.
The Royals’ defense collapsed on DP freshman phenom Ryann Neushul and held her to one goal. Jordan Williams had two goals to lead the Chargers.
A penalty shot by Williams cut San Marcos’ lead to 8-6 midway through the fourth period. The Chargers got the ball back on a steal by Olivia Kistler but they were unable to capitalize as Kistler hit the post with her shot.
Heiduk scored on a 6-on-5 situation to give the Royals a 9-6 lead. DP hit the post again on a shot by Chloe Pena. San Marcos worked the ball around and Bergholdt got free and put her shot away to complete the scoring.
Santa Barbara defeated Murrieta Valley, 15-7, to finish 15th in the tournament. Kai McGeoy, Georgia Ransone, Jessee Ransone and Kristina Garcia each had two goals. Jessie Brummett dished out seven assists and Lara Kostruba played well in center defense, said coach Mark Walsh.
Earlier, the Dons (7-11) held Division 1 10th-ranked Santa Margarita to just four goals, but they only managed to scored two. Goalie Siena Goggia had six saves.
Laguna Beach played suffocating defense on Foothill standout Cana Manzella. Mackenzie Fischer, her younger sister, Aria Fischer, and Mia Salvini took turns denying Manzella from getting the ball in the 2-meter area, where she is so effective. She scored only once on a rebound of an outside shot that bounced off the cross bar.
“They did a really good job covering our primary,” said Foothill assistant coach Greg Enloe.
“Mackenzie Fischer is one of the best defenders in the world. I got to see that first hand at the world championships last year,” said Laguna Beach coach Ethan Damato of the TOC Most Valuable Player. (Mackenzie and Cana) are actually teammates on that (USA youth) team.”
The Fischer sisters are the leaders for Laguna Beach.
“They’re both great and they’re great teammates,” Damato said. “They play both ends of the pool. They’re a big part of our team. We got a great group of girls around them, but they definitely set the tone.”
Aria Fischer led the team in scoring with three goals, while Mackenzie Fisher, Bella Baldridge and Haley Evans each scored two goals. Julia Sellers scored two goals to lead Foothill (13-3).
Mackenzie Fischer sparked the Breakers’ comeback from an early 3-1 deficit. She had in the next four goals. She finished a pass from Evans and returned the favor to knot the score at 3-3. She then gave them the lead for good, scoring in transition off a nice pass from Baldridge near the end of the first half. She got open on the left wing and buried her shot for a 5-3 lead with 2:53 to go in the third period. Baldridge followed with power-play goal.
Laguna Beach’s speed of play makes it tough to defend.
“We try to play as fast as possible,”Damato said. “That’s our goal, to give ourselves as much of an opportunity to play offense as we can. Today, we didn’t score quite as much as we normally do, but our defense was great and we scored enough to win.”
The championship semifinal featured the top four seeds Laguna Beach beat Corona del Mar, 9-3, and Foothill defeated Newport Harbor, 6-2.
