Breakers Roll to another Major Title – Win Streak Hits 46

February 12, 2015

1020

By Frank Aronoff

Girls Water Polo (25-0, 3-0)

The top girls water polo squad won five matches, out-scoring the opposition 90-19 at a tournament Saturday, Feb. 7, in Irvine. Front, from left, Ally Jochim, Thea Walsh, Caspian Brock, Bella Baldridge, Taylor Julson, Haley Evans, Brighid Burnes and Daniele Lucidi; back row, Makenzie Fischer, Natalie Selin, Holly Parker, Sophia Lucas, Aria Fischer, Evan Tingler, Gabi Beran and Mia Salvini Photo courtesy Cheryl Baldridge.

For the sixth time in two seasons, the top-ranked Breakers crushed the opposition, this time capturing the 20^th annual Southern California Championships with an 11-4 victory over second-ranked Foothill this past Saturday, Feb. 7, at Irvine’s Woollett Center.

Breakers easily dispatched Esperanza 22-2, Murrieta Valley 21-2, Royal 20-6, and San Marcos 16-5 en route to the title game.

Makenzie Fischer was named the tournament MVP and scored 30 goals over the five game tournament. Aria Fischer and Bella Baldridge were also named to the 12-player, all- tournament squad from the 32 participating teams. Aria had 19 goals, 13 assists, and 10 steals over the three-day event while Baldridge added 11 goals, 20 assists, and five steals. Holly Parker was in top form in the cage with 27 saves for 88 minutes in the goal while Thea Walsh recorded 17 saves for her 52 minutes in the cage.

: Junior Mia Salvini scored two of Laguna’s 19 goals against Los Osos on Saturday Jan. 31. Photo Credit: Dante Fornaro

The feature game was the championship match with Foothill (22-4) played on Saturday. Mia Salvini scored the first goal mid-way through the first period as the contest was slow to develop with each team taking full advantage of the shot clock. Makenzie Fischer scored three straight goals in the second period and the final score arriving in the last second on a Baldridge pass to Aria Fisher to make it 5-0. Laguna was up 10-2 early in the final period and freely substituted for the final five-plus minutes of the game for the dominant 11-4 victory. Breakers have won five straight over the Knights since suffering that 8-7 upset loss to them last January.

Breakers faced Godinez this past Wednesday and Division 2’s top-ranked El Toro on Thursday to conclude their regular season. Playoffs open on Wednesday, Feb. 18. Laguna should cruise to the CIF semifinals and will be going for the all-time Orange County win streak mark at the second round of playoffs on Saturday, Feb. 21.

Senior goalie Holly Parker collects one of her 10 saves against Foothill during Laguna’s 11-4 win in the SoCal Championships at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine on Saturday, Feb 7. Photo Credit: Robert Campbell

The Breakers JV finished 20^th in the 32-team varsity tournament, finishing ahead of the varsity squads from Harvard-Westlake, Long Beach Wilson and Mira Costa. On Thursday, Feb. 5, Division 1’s seventh-ranked Dos Pueblos edged the Breakers 11-5 . On Friday, Laguna faced Arroyo Grande at the Woollett Center.

Breakers behind Alana Evan’s six goals battled back from a 6-3 deficit late in the third period to take the contest into sudden death overtime. Breakers won the sprint and tried to score feeding Julia Cox-Kruger in the hole. Julia quickly realized a shot wasn’t going to succeed and tossed the ball to Delaney Gendron, who fired the “golden goal” to end the game. Joie Selin, a field player, was stellar all weekend in the cage substituting for Thea Walsh who played with the varsity team.

Senior Makenzie Fischer scored 6 of Laguna’s 11 goals in the SoCal Championship finals. Photo Credit: Robert Campbell

Later that evening, the JV knocked off another varsity squad. taking Villa Park 12-10 in a game that the JV dominated from the start. On Saturday, the JV lost 11-4 to Santa Barbara and 15-10 to Carlsbad.

Overall Mia Imbernino leads the team (16-5) in scoring for the season with 46 goals, Delaney Gendron has 37, Alana Evans 36, followed by Julia Cox Kruger with 35, and Isabel Riches with 34. JV closes out their season this weekend with the Newport-CdM JV championships.