Laguna Beach girls’ water polo advances to CIF Open Division semifinals
The calls were going against the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team on Thursday.
By the second half, the Breakers had five players who had been excluded at least twice. Two of them, junior Emmy Hensley and sophomore Kara Carver, would end up fouling out.
In a year with much parity, nobody said making it to the CIF Southern Section Open Division semifinals would be easy. But Laguna Beach had an answer.
Junior Ava Knepper scored three goals, and senior center Lauren Short added two big ones off the bench, as the No. 4-seeded Breakers earned a scrappy 9-7 win over Santa Barbara San Marcos in a quarterfinal match at Sage Hill School.
“We had such a good offensive flow that when we had little defensive blips, we just rolled over it, because we had good momentum,” Hensley said. “I don’t feel like there was ever a point in the game where any of us doubted ourselves, and I think that comes with good preparation.”
The two other local Open Division teams saw their seasons end Thursday. Defending champion Newport Harbor lost 11-6 at No. 3-seeded Surf League rival Los Alamitos. Corona del Mar pushed top-seeded Foothill before falling, 6-5.
Laguna Beach (19-8), meanwhile, will play at Foothill in the Open Division semifinals at 5:40 p.m. Wednesday. The Breakers are 2-1 against the Knights this season.
Carver, Cleo Washer, Hensley and Presley Jones added goals for the Breakers against San Marcos, as they beat the Royals for the third time in four meetings this season.
Senior goalkeeper Lauren Schneider made eight saves for Laguna, which also got good minutes off the bench from senior Jordan Schneider and junior Sophie Colladay amid the foul trouble chaos.
“Our team’s deep, and not most teams are,” Lauren Schneider said. “We’re Laguna Beach, what do you expect?”
Ava Stryker scored six of San Marcos’ seven goals, but the Breakers’ defense held San Marcos to three for 13 on the power play.
Los Alamitos 11, Newport Harbor 6: The Griffins advanced to their first semifinals since 2014 after Thursday night’s win.
Senior Olivia Slavens had a match-high four goals for Los Alamitos (22-7), which advanced to play Orange Lutheran in the semifinals next Wednesday. CiCi DeLuca added three goals.
Newport Harbor, which split its two league matches with league champion Los Alamitos, led 2-1 in the first quarter Thursday after strikes from a power-play strike from senior Chiara Amoroso. But the Sailors gave up six straight goals in a stretch that lasted into the third quarter.
“I think our youth showed in this game,” Newport Harbor coach Ross Sinclair said. “We were very hesitant throughout the whole game and looked a little like we lacked some experience. We were just slow-thinking and we struggled to pass under pressure, make quick decisions. We struggled to release for the ball, break that press [defense] and turned the ball over too much.”
Junior center Ryan Chalpunik led the Sailors (20-8) with three goals. Senior goalkeeper Anna Reed, in the last game of a sparkling four-year varsity career, made five saves.
“We weren’t aggressive, and it just felt like we were letting Los Al control the game the whole time,” Chalupnik said. “We didn’t take the game into our own hands, we let them control us.”
Reed noted there were only a few people in the group that had played in a CIF quarterfinal match. It was a very quiet bus ride home, she said, but hopes that just adds fuel to the fire for next year’s squad.
The Sailors had just two active seniors for much of the season, Reed and Amoroso, with Stanford-bound senior left-hander Avery Montiel out with a shoulder injury.
“I’ve had a great time,” said Reed, headed to USC. “It’s been really, really fun, and I would never change anything. I’ve met some of my best friends. I’ve gotten really good coaching, some of the best in the country. I will always remember it. There’s been so many good things that have come out of it, and I just could not be more thankful.”
Foothill 6, Corona del Mar 5: The Sea Kings’ upset bid of the top-seeded Knights fell just short Thursday in the Open Division quarterfinal match at Foothill High.
Sophomore center Reagan Weir led CdM (19-8) with four goals, and junior Ava Schoenig also scored. Senior Emily Cloherty had a pair of assists, and senior Aubrie Anderson led with five steals.
CdM trailed 6-3 after three quarters and scored twice in the fourth, but was unable to find the equalizer.
El Toro 11, Costa Mesa 4: The Mustangs’ season ended after losing to No. 3-seeded El Toro in the second round of the Division 3 playoffs Thursday at home.
Addie Juelfs scored twice for Costa Mesa, the Orange Coast League champion which ended its season 16-9. Dharma Andreas and Mikaela Smith added one goal each.
Palm Desert Xavier Prep 7, Fountain Valley 4: The Barons fell to the No. 4-seeded team Thursday in the second round of the Division 4 playoffs at Westminster High.
Fountain Valley, which made the playoffs as a Wave League at-large team, finished the season with a 14-10 record.
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