High School Roundup: Laguna girls’ soccer team maintains title hopes
It was a game the Laguna Beach girls’ soccer team needed if it had hoped to stay in contention for the Orange Coast League championship. And, the Breakers got it.
Laguna remained in the league title hunt on Tuesday by taking a 1-0 shutout victory from visiting Estancia at Guyer Field.
The lone goal of the important match came in the 75th minute when Regan Caraher scored, assisted by Audrey Pillsbury. Laguna goalie Kylie George had a standout game in goal and had two on-frame saves, and three saves out of the mouth of the goal.
Laguna got off five shots on goal, including a solid shot by Alyssa Pellow that was denied by the Estancia goalie.
The Breakers improved to 5-2 in league and 7-5-5 overall.
Laguna Coach Bill Rolfing called it an “important win.”
The loss dropped Estancia, ranked fourth in CIF Southern Section Division 5, from first place. The Eagles are 4-1-2 in league.
Calvary Chapel, which edged Saddleback, 1-0, on Tuesday, led the league at 5-1-1 through Wednesday.
“We had a very competitive preseason, and that prepared us for last night’s massive result against a ranked squad,” Rolfing said. “With the win, the girls still control their OCL championship destiny.”
Laguna had closed out the previous week’s action with a 3-0 blanking of league foe Costa Mesa on Jan. 29 at Guyer Field. Summer Stanaland scored off an assist from Pellow, who later scored off an assist from Christine Johnson, who went on to score off an assist from Greer Jacobs.
George had two saves and Laguna’s other goalie, Kara Dunne-Dombrink, recorded three saves.
“With Tuesday’s win over Estancia, (we) control our fate,” Rolfing said. “The three remaining games give us the opportunity to repeat as OCL champions, but also will prepare us for CIF postseason play for the fourth straight year. One match at a time.”
Laguna was back in league action on Thursday at Saddleback. The score wasn’t available at press time. The Breakers finish their league schedule next week, first taking on Godinez at Centennial Park in Santa Ana at 3:15 p.m. on Monday. They host Calvary Chapel in a key league finale at 5 p.m. next Wednesday.
On Wednesday, Pillsbury signed a National Letter of Intent to play women’s soccer and study at Vassar College.
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Boys’ Soccer
The Breakers took over second place in the Orange Coast League standings, a spot they had shared with their Wednesday opponent, Estancia, by knocking off the visiting Eagles, 1-0, at Guyer Field.
Bruce Knill scored off a header from Zach Jacobs in the first half, and the Breakers’ defense did the rest in shutting out the Eagles.
“It was a very exciting and highly contested game,” Laguna Coach Dan Richards said. “Estancia has a lot of quality throughout their team and really poured on the pressure during the match. Bruce (Knill) got us off to the perfect start scoring with a header off Zach Jacobs’ pin-point delivery.”
“Dante (Amodeo) had a great game in goal dominating and controlling the box. Our defense was unbelievably disciplined and organized throughout the game as well which made it very hard for Estancia to find a way through. There’s a reason why we’ve kept six clean sheets in seven games, which is a huge achievement and shows how hard the lads work for each other.”
Laguna ran its league record to 4-1-2, and overall mark to 8-6-3.
Estancia fell to 3-2-2 in league.
“The most important thing now is for the team not to lose sight of what got them this result (Estancia) and put them in such a good position in league,” Richards said. “We still have three very hard games coming up and tonight’s result means nothing if we don’t get the job done in those.”
Laguna was coming off a 3-0 league road shutout on Jan. 30 of Costa Mesa at Estancia High. Logan Eastman, Knill and Tommy Ressler scored goals for the Breakers who took a 2-0 halftime lead.
“It showed great character by the lads to get back to winning ways after coming off our first league defeat two days earlier,” Richards said in reference to a Jan. 28 loss to Godinez. “Although we definitely didn’t play our best, the boys found a way to get it done and did improve as the game progressed. Tommy’s (Ressler) goal in the second half was a great team effort and showed how effective we can be on quick purposeful counter attacks.
“It is always tough at this time of the season with the inevitable injuries and illnesses, so I’m extremely pleased with how some of our squad players have stepped up and contributed. It was also great to get our fifth shutout of the league season so far.”
The Breakers are on the road on Friday for a 3 p.m. league game at Saddleback. They close out league and regular season play next week with a 3:15 p.m. game on Tuesday against Godinez at Centennial Park in Santa Ana, followed by a 6:30 p.m. home game on Thursday against Calvary Chapel.
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Girls’ Water Polo
The Breakers, still undefeated and holding down the No. 1 ranking in CIF-SS Division 1, are competing this weekend at the Irvine Southern California Women’s Water Polo Championships. The Breakers are the overall No. 1 seed for the tournament, which started Thursday.
In addition to the Laguna varsity, the Laguna junior varsity team also is competing in the tournament.
Both Laguna teams are playing at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine.
The tournament continues on Friday and concludes Saturday.
“We are very excited for this weekend,” Laguna Coach Ethan Damato said. “Our JV team got into the tournament because of a late drop, so we have all of girls playing in this great tournament.
“This tournament is especially great getting the opportunity to compete at Woollett against the top teams, with high level refs, just a couple weeks before the (CIF) playoffs. Should make for a great weekend.”
The Breakers entered the week with a record of 20-0, and a win streak of 41 games after posting big nonleague wins last week over Santa Barbara San Marcos and Los Osos.
Laguna first defeated San Marcos, the No. 6 team in CIF-SS Division 1, 16-3, on Jan. 30 at Corona del Mar High. Makenzie Fischer led all scorers with six goals, Aria Fischer scored four goals, Bella Baldridge had two goals and three assists, and Holly Parker had eight saves and three steals.
“We had a slow start offensively and didn’t push the pace as well as we would have liked throughout the course of the game,” Damato said. “With that said, we played great defense, Holly (Parker) played great in the cage and we found ways to score. Makenzie and Aria made some big shots in the first half to get us through slow start before we started rolling as a unit in the second half. Overall, it was a very good win for us after a long break in big games. “
The Breakers took care of visiting Los Osos, ranked No. 6 in CIF-SS Division 2, 19-2, on Saturday. Aria Fischer scored four goals, Sophia Lucas three, and Makenzie Fischer, Evan Tingler, Mia Salvini, Daniela Lucidi and Taylor Julson each scored twice. Parker (five) and Thea Walsh combined for nine saves.
“Saturday we changed up our lines a bit, subbed in large groups and got everyone a lot of playing time against a good D-2 team,” Damato said. “We started slow but eventually found a nice rhythm and finished the game on high note holding them to only two goals.
“Five goals in two games means we are playing some good defense.”
After the Southern California Championships, Laguna will wrap up Orange Coast League play at 3:15 p.m. next Wednesday at Godinez. The Breakers complete the regular season on Thursday, hosting El Toro at 4:15 p.m.
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CIF Weekly Rankings
Girls’ Water Polo: Laguna Beach (No. 1, Division 1).
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Twitter: @MikeSciacca