Eight is great: Laguna Beach girls’ water polo wins another Bill Barnett Holiday Cup title

The Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team had never relied on this group to win a major tournament title.

But the players showed they were up to the challenge Thursday at Newport Harbor High.

Senior Ava Houlahan scored on a skip shot from about seven meters with 1:58 left in the first sudden-death overtime period, lifting the Breakers to a 10-9 win over the host Sailors for their eighth straight Bill Barnett Holiday Cup title.

Laguna Beach (12-0) was down by three goals at halftime against Newport Harbor (7-1).

The Breakers also were down by three goals at halftime earlier Thursday against Foothill, as the championship round went to a round-robin format between the three teams after Mater Dei was forced to withdraw due to COVID-19 reasons.

Each time, the Breakers came out on top. They have now won 42 straight matches overall since a loss at Foothill in January 2020.

Ava Houlahan of Laguna Beach shoots in the game-winning goal against Newport Harbor.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

“I think we proved to everybody, don’t count us out,� Breakers coach Ethan Damato said.

“That’s not the way we want to do it. We don’t want to come from behind, and I think we can play sharper earlier in the game. But I’m just very proud of the group and their resilience. I think they’re a very hard-working group and they care a lot about each other. You can see it in the way they compete at the end of games for each other.�

Newport Harbor led by four goals twice in the third quarter of the title match, as Taylor Smith’s goal gave the Sailors an 8-4 lead. But Laguna Beach kept working.

The Breakers scored five straight goals, with Ava Knepper’s strike from the right wing giving Laguna Beach a 9-8 advantage with 1:16 remaining in the fourth quarter.

On the other end, Newport senior foreign exchange student Bia Diaz drew a penalty shot that Morgan Netherton put away, sending the match to overtime. The Sailors didn’t get the call on a strong move at center from Ryan Chalupnik in the closing seconds of regulation.

Both teams had good looks on their first overtime possessions, before Houlahan’s wet shot into the upper corner ended the match.

“I think it makes us feel really good,� said Houlahan, bound for Princeton, of the tournament title.

“From the very beginning of our season, we knew that teams have always wanted to beat Laguna, so they’re going to come after us. Supposedly, we’re the underdogs this year, so I think we came out there with nothing to lose today. I think it gives us a lot of confidence going forward for our season, especially for younger girls.�

Newport Harbor’s Taylor Smith pulls back from Laguna Beach defender Ava Knepper and scores a goal in Thursday’s match.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Knepper had four goals to lead the Breakers against Newport, while Houlahan filled up the stat sheet with two goals, three assists and four steals.

Senior Lexi Parness came off the bench to score three big goals, while junior center Charlotte Riches also added a goal. Junior goalkeeper Lauren Schneider made eight saves, including a couple from close range in the first half to keep Laguna Beach in it.

Damato said Parness’ aggressiveness sparked Laguna Beach, which played without one of its top offensive threats, senior Lela McCarroll, for COVID-19 reasons.

“We have a really deep team, and we want to have that bench mob mentality,� Damato said. “When we sub, we want to bring a certain type of energy, and I thought she really brought that today.�

Diaz and Smith had three goals each to lead the Sailors, who got seven saves from junior goalkeeper Anna Reed.

“I was really happy with the way we played for where we are in the season,� Sailors coach Ross Sinclair said.

“I mean, we turned the ball over too many times. We let them get in transition, which they thrive in, and our six-on-five was not great [two for eight]. But I think we had some opportunities. I thought [Schneider] played well and made some big saves … We’ve got a lot of work to do and we’re ready for it. These are the games that we need right now.�

Laguna Beach and Newport Harbor meet again in a Surf League match Tuesday at 7:15 p.m. at Los Alamitos High.

Both teams earned round-robin wins over Foothill earlier Thursday. Knepper and Houlahan each had three goals as Laguna Beach rallied for an 8-7 victory over the Knights, who led 5-2 at halftime.

Netherton had six goals and four assists in the Sailors’ 13-8 victory over Foothill, with Smith scoring four goals and Reed notching 10 saves.

Laguna Beach goalie Lauren Schneider knocks the ball free from Newport Harbor’s Lily Gess to stop a scoring threat.

(Don Leach / Staff Photographer)

Corona del Mar places seventh

Claire Eusey scored a team-best three goals as Corona del Mar beat Studio City Harvard-Westlake 10-8 in the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup seventh-place match Thursday at Newport Harbor High.

Mia Bernhoit added two goals for CdM (6-5), which got one goal each from Aliyah Cohen, Jillian Schlom, Emily Cloherty, Didi Evans and Makena Macedo.

The Sea Kings lost 8-4 to Orange Lutheran in a fifth-place semifinal.

Edison, the other local team in the tournament, finished with a 6-5 win over San Juan Hills as Lily Larson scored a penalty shot in sudden death.

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