No letdown for Laguna

Breakers rout Northwood; CIF polo playoffs next.Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo coach Rick McKee had a little trepidation heading into Wednesday’s Pacific Coast League match against visiting Northwood.

His Breakers hadn’t played in a week, after losing to No. 1 Corona del Mar, nor had his squad had a strong week of practice leading up to Wednesday’s regular season finale.

“I was apprehensive going into the game,” McKee said, but his second-ranked Breakers squelched his concern by overcoming a sluggish start on offense to record a 13-3 victory over the ninth-ranked Timberwolves.

The win capped a 21-5 regular season for the Breakers, who finished in second place in the league with a 3-1 record.

They’ll enter the CIF-Southern Section Division II playoffs next week and figure to land the division’s No. 2 seed.

Laguna, McKee said, had always responded well following a tough loss. Earlier in the season, the Breakers dropped a match to Santa Margarita but bounced back to dominate Edison. At the Tournament of Champions in Santa Barbara last month, the Breakers lost a first-round match to Montebello but came back to whip Ayala.

But those victories came immediately following the losses. Never had the Breakers had a week’s break between a loss and their next outing.

“This team has rebounded really strongly all season, but that week off between games had me a little nervous,” McKee said. “It was very positive to see the girls respond again once we got rolling after that first quarter.”

Despite McKee’s squad dominating on defense in the opening quarter, Laguna’s offense didn’t have its timing down and led by only 2-1.

The Breakers outscored Northwood, 4-1, in the second quarter, to take a 6-2 lead at the half.

They led, 9-3, after three quarters, then shut out the Timberwolves in the fourth quarter.

Erin Reid and Annika Dries each scored three goals for Laguna. Breanna Duplisea and Jessica McKee each scored twice, and Taylor Dodson, Brittany Forrest and Natasha Schulman each scored once.

Laguna keeper Celia Huling continued her strong play against the Timberwolves. The junior blocked a four-meter shot and finished with seven saves.

Laguna will learn the identity of its first-round CIF-SS playoff opponent when the pairings are released Monday. First-round action begins at 3:15 p.m. Thursday.

Laguna held on to its No. 2 ranking in the latest CIF-Southern Section Division II poll.

The Breakers, who were coming off a 9-4 loss at Corona del Mar, are ranked second in the poll to the Sea Kings.

Mira Costa was ranked third, and there was a three-way tie for the No. 4 slot between Villa Park, El Dorado and Tustin.

Sonora is rated No. 7, followed by Palos Verdes, Northwood and Valencia/Placentia.