Laguna Beach gearing up for CIF

The Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team begins its defense of its CIF Southern Section Division II title next week, and playoff brackets will be released by the section office Sunday.

But first, the Orange Coast League champions tangle with former Pacific Coast League foe Corona del Mar on the road at 3:15 p.m. today.

“It’s a competitive game in big water,” Breakers Coach Ethan Damato said. “It’s always fun to try to beat them.”

Laguna finished eighth over the weekend at the 32-team Irvine Southern California Championships. The Breakers topped Capistrano Valley, 13-2, in their opening game and then advanced past a tough Coronado team, 11-10, to make the quarterfinals. It was the second time the Breakers had beaten Coronado by a single goal this season.

In the quarterfinals, the Breakers were without standout defender Jessica Shusko (bruised ribs), but still pushed Los Alamitos to the limit before falling, 6-5, in overtime. Jessie Holechek and Lexie Ross each scored twice in that game; Ross’ sweep shot from set with 2:25 left in regulation tied the score at 5.

But the Griffins’ Rachel Fattal scored on the first possession of overtime.

Melena Masson scored one goal and also played standout defense in the game for Laguna, which was helped by substitutes Lida DeGroote and Alia Manetta. Alia’s older sister, Etianne, made six saves for the Breakers.

“We talked about how, no matter what happens, the only way we fail is if we don’t play hard,” Damato said. “I thought our girls played hard, played together. From the start of the game to the end of the game, we got better and better. Los Al is a great defensive team, so I thought getting five goals on them without one of our best players was really good.”

Laguna, perhaps drained the next day, lost to Santa Barbara, 9-4, and Long Beach Wilson, 10-7, to close out the tournament.

Ross was selected to the all-tournament team.