High School Female Athlete of the Week: Laguna Beach’s Emma Lineback understands the importance of family
Emma Lineback may not have any siblings, but it took just one special moment for her to feel that she has many sisters on the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team.
A couple of years ago, she learned that she was adopted at birth. Her adoptive parents, Dan and Tracy, gave her the news. Heading into her sophomore year with the Breakers, she went to a team bonding trip to Big Bear in November 2018.
One exercise was to share with your teammates something special about you that nobody knew. Lineback decided to let them know that she was adopted.
“I thought it was a great opportunity to tell everyone,” Lineback said. “I was super-nervous, because I didn’t know if people would think it was weird or anything. The first thing people did when I said it was just give me a hug. They were like, ‘That’s so cool!’ Having that response from my teammates just made me feel so loved. This is my second family.”
Lineback’s first family is also extremely proud of her. Dan and Tracy have been there the whole way for Emma, who was born six weeks early, Tracy Lineback said. She had to stay in the hospital for about a week after she was born.
“[The day we adopted her] was the best day of my life, and we haven’t looked back since,” Tracy said. “She was a fighter from day one.”
Emma Lineback said she hasn’t tried to find her biological mother, at least not yet. What she has found is her spot on arguably the most talented high school team in the country.
Last year, the left-hander was the Breakers’ secret weapon, coming off the bench to play big. She scored all three of her goals in the second half as Laguna Beach beat Corona del Mar 9-8 in sudden-death overtime for the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title.
This year, Lineback was entrenched in the starting lineup. There was no taking opponents by surprise. Yet, history still repeated itself. She had a match-high four goals, including the eventual game winner assisted by Nicole Struss with 3:18 left in the fourth quarter, as top-seeded Laguna Beach beat No. 2 Foothill 7-6 for the Division 1 title on Feb. 22 at Irvine’s Woollett Aquatics Center.
Junior left-hander Emma Lineback comes up big late as the top-seeded Breakers edge the No. 2 Knights 7-6 in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 title match.
The Breakers earned their fifth Division 1 title in seven years, rallying from a 6-4 deficit entering the fourth quarter. Lineback scored all three of Laguna Beach’s goals in the final frame, adding a field block and a steal.
“Lineback sparking us offensively just gave us that energy, that momentum that we needed,” Breakers coach Ethan Damato said. “It’s always tough to score on Foothill, and I thought she provided that for us in the final, just that confidence and that edge that we needed. Your big-time players need to make plays, and Emma found a way this year again in the fourth quarter to pull us through.
“She’s a pretty quiet kid. We’ve got some aggressive girls on our team, some alpha females for sure, and Emma is not that person out of the pool. So it’s been really awesome watching her find her voice, and find her leadership role.”
Lineback, a U.S. Women’s Youth National Team member, certainly asserts herself once the match begins. Heading into this weekend’s CIF Southern California Regional Division I tournament, she led the Breakers with 71 goals this season, followed closely by Struss with 69. Lineback also was second on the team with 53 assists, and third with 31 steals.
Top-seeded Laguna Beach (31-1) opened the SoCal Regional with a 19-3 win over No. 8 La Jolla on Friday. The Breakers will play No. 5 Newport Harbor (22-8) in the semifinals at 1:40 p.m. on Saturday at Segerstrom High, which will also be the site of the title match on the same day.
Lineback, who handled the ball a lot on the right side of the pool this year, along with junior Rachael Carver, thrived in an increased role. She was an all-tournament team selection at the Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and the Irvine Southern California Championships. The Breakers won both of those tournaments, as well as the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup, to capture the “triple crown.”
The Breakers start strong and rout San Marcos 15-8 in the title match Saturday.
“We weren’t going to play afraid at all this season, which was something really big,” Lineback said. “We didn’t want to lose because we played afraid to shoot, or afraid to make a pass. I think having that mentality of leaving it all in the pool was really what ultimately pushed us to win the championship, and win the triple crown.”
Laguna Beach’s family atmosphere has helped make it the most successful girls’ water polo program in the CIF Southern Section over the last decade. Lineback knows that she has the support of her teammates, in issues related to the sport but also just in dealing with life in general.
“That’s something so special about Laguna,” she said. “No matter what you do — if you make a bad pass, you turn over the ball or you score — your team is always going to have your back. We’re always going to have that family bond with each other.”
Emma Lineback
Born: Nov. 15, 2003
Hometown: Laguna Beach
Height: 5 feet 6
Sport: Water polo
Year: Junior
Coach: Ethan Damato
Favorite food: Banzai bowl
Favorite movie: “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off”
Favorite athletic moment: Helping Team USA win the UANA Pan American Championships last summer in Trinidad & Tobago.
Week in review: Lineback had three goals in the Breakers’ 9-7 win over Newport Harbor in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinals on Feb. 19, and four goals in a 7-6 win over Foothill in the title match on Feb. 22.
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