Breakers take winning ways up north

The Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team carries a seven-game winning streak up north today as the Breakers open play at the Tournament of Champions in Santa Barbara.

The 16-team tournament features several of the top-ranked squads in CIF-Southern Section divisions I, II and III. Match play during the two-day tournament will be held at the Santa Barbara High and UC Santa Barbara pools.

Laguna, ranked No. 1 in Division II, will play Agoura (No. 3, Div. II) at 2:10 p.m. at Santa Barbara High.

“There are some elite teams in this tournament,” Laguna Coach Chad Beeler said. “Agoura’s a very strong team and if we win, we could get Foothill in the second-round.

“We hope to get a lot of good game experience up there. This tournament definitely will help prepare us for CIF.”

The 16 teams will be split into four pools.

Pool A is Foothill, Agoura, Laguna Beach and Dos Pueblos. Pool B is Montebello, Villa Park, Santa Barbara and Riverside Poly. Pool C is Newport Harbor, Whittier, Long Beach Wilson and Ayala. Pool D is Corona del Mar, Coronado, Santa Margarita and El Toro.

The stacked tournament includes the top six-ranked teams in Division I — Foothill, Montebello, Corona del Mar, Newport Harbor, Santa Margarita and El Toro, as well as No. 10 Long Beach Wilson; the top five-ranked teams from Division II — Laguna Beach, Villa Park, Agoura, Santa Barbara and Dos Pueblos, and three of the top five-ranked teams from Division III — Whittier (No. 1), Ayala (No. 2) and Riverside Poly (No. 5).

Laguna completed the first-round of Orange Coast League play Wednesday with a 17-2 drubbing of visiting Costa Mesa to improve to 3-0 in league.

Jessica McKee led the rout with six goals. Addison Doud scored four goals, Erin Reid had three goals and two assists, Breanna Duplisea two goals and three assists, Lexi Ross and Natasha Schulmann each a goal and two assists and Taylor Dodson had two assists.

Goalie Celia Huling recorded eight saves and also had a pair of assists.

Last Friday, a battle between the top two-ranked teams in Division II, Laguna and Villa Park, proved to be all-Breakers.

Laguna led from start to finish in disposing of the Spartans, 9-7, at the Laguna pool.

Last spring, Villa Park knocked Laguna out of the CIF playoffs. But this time, the Breakers came out strong at both ends of the pool, pairing a tough defense that stymied the Spartans with an offense that posted three goals that allowed the host team to enjoy a 3-0 lead after one quarter.

Laguna didn’t let up, either. The Breakers stretched a 4-2 halftime lead into a 7-2 advantage through three quarters with a defensive and offensive performance similar to the start of the match.

The Breakers’ outstanding defensive effort saw Huling come up with 18 saves and a steal. Dries and Dodson each had two steals and McKee had one.

On offense, Dries, Reid and Duplisea each had two goals and McKee, Dodson and Schulmann each scored once. Assists-wise, Duplisea, Dodson and McKee each had a pair and Dries, Reid and Schulmann each had one.

“I thought the girls played extremely well,” Beeler said. “Our first three quarters were phenomenal. Villa Park’s a very strong team but our girls were in control of the match the entire way. We handled them very well defensively.”