Breakers Face CdM in D1 CIF Finals
Girls Water Polo (28-1)
Tea Poljak scored three goals and provided two key assists to lead the Breakers to a 9-6 win over Foothill (21-7) this past Wednesday night in the rain at Irvine’s Woollett Center to advance to the D1 finals to be played this Saturday. Breakers will face long-time rival Corona del Mar (19-7) in a rematch of the 2005 D2 finals when the Sea Queens defeated Laguna 9-5 at Belmont Plaza. Breakers are on a roll having won three of the past five D1 titles and have beaten Corona three times this season and 14 straight since 2014. The scores have been tight this year with 9-8, 8-7, 6-4 tallies. CdM leads the all-time series 19-18.
In the Foothill match, both teams traded possessions until Grace Houlahan found the net off a pass by Tea Poljak at the 3:32 mark. The game remained 1-0 until the officials ruled a shot by Poljak scored with five seconds left. Foothill scored on a power play early in the second period to cut the score to 2-1 which remained until the final wild two minutes of the second period. Cici Stewart scored on a Poljak pass, but Foothill quickly countered after an exclusion call on Kennedy Corlett gave them a power play opportunity. Twenty seconds later, Morgan Van Alphen worked her way through the Knight defense and fired a shot to make it a 4-2 game. After an exclusion call on Foothill, they made an early entry error and Laguna was awarded a penalty shot for the mistake. Molly Renner nailed the attempt as the Breakers had a 5-2 advantaged into the intermission. Breakers stormed out in the third quarter adding three quick goals while Foothill could only score once on another six on five power play, and it was 8-3 midway through the period and the Breakers could relax.
Last week the Breakers easily rolled over Mater Dei 13-7 in a “home” contest played on Thursday, Feb. 7, at Foothill High School. Morgan Van Alphen led all scorers with three goals while Cici Stewart dished out three assists. Laguna now holds a 17-1 series advantage over the Monarchs.
Team statistical leaders through Match 29:
Goals scored: 43 – Molly Renner, 41 -Tea Poljak, 41 – Nicole Struss, 39 – Morgan Van Alphen, 32- Emma Lineback
Assists: 35 – Tea Poljak, 33 – Molly Renner, 32 – Claire Kelly 25 – Emma Lineback, 24 – Cici Stewart
Steals: 45 – Quinn Winter, 36 – Claire Kelly, 31 – Tea Poljak, 30 – Molly Renner, 26 – Jessie Rose & Emma Lineback
Exclusions drawn: 39 – Emma Lineback, 33 – Imani Clemons, 24 – Nicole Struss, 23 – Tea Poljak, 14 – Molly Renner
Saves: 223 – Quinn Winter
State CIF will be played next week at Segerstrom and Ocean View High Schools. See the www.CIFSTATE.orgwebsite on Sunday for the schedule.
Winter Sports
Boys Basketball (12-16, 4-2)
Season Ends in Walnut
Breakers were held to only one basket on five shots in the initial period and trailed 27-12 at the intermission versus Walnut on Friday night, Feb. 8, at Walnut High School. Breakers came out in the second half and looked like they had the Mustangs on the ropes with only a five-point lead midway in the final period, but turnovers and missed opportunities let the game get way 49-42 to end the season. The entire squad returns for 2020 and the Breakers, along with Fountain Valley, should be the Sunset Wave League favorites.
Girls Soccer (4-11-5)
Breakers played their first round D3 playoff game this past Tuesday at Guyer Field without all-time scorer Reilyn Turner and suffered a 1-0 loss to Brea-Olinda.
Spring Sports
Baseball (2-1)
Breakers avoided the rain on Feb. 9 and split their games to open the program’s 81st season of play. In the early game, Breakers scratched out two runs on six hits for a 2-0 victory at Beckman. Eric Silva pitched 4 1/3 innings striking out six while Cutter Clawson came in relief to complete the shutout. In the afternoon contest, Breaker pitchers gave up 12 hits in a 9-3 loss to the Patriots.
On Tuesday, Laguna opened their run in the Costa Mesa Division of the Newport Elks tournament with a 4-1 win over Cerritos in a contest played at Skipper Carrillo Field. Cutter Clawson picked up the win in the game. Tournament website is: www.newportelks.usapremiersports.comand all baseball stats are posted on the Laguna website at Max Preps.
Boys Volleyball
Doug Mauro’s team held a successful scrimmage last Saturday with Mater Dei at the Laguna gyms. The two Laguna juniors Andrew Reavis and Geste Bianchi showed why they’re among the county’s top players. Lucas Kravitz and Chase Hall wasted no time from the previous night’s basketball game to jump right into the volleyball season.
Breakers opened their 48th season of play on Saturday, Feb. 16, in the Tesoro Tournament. Breakers will face Edison, JSerra and Portola in pool play at Capo and should advance to the gold division playoffs at Tesoro in the afternoon. Finals will be Monday. Also in the tournament is Santa Margarita, Newport Harbor, Huntington Beach, and Los Alamitos. Breakers will be off until Feb. 28 when they host Laguna Hills. The 34th Annual Alumni game is slated for Friday, April 26, at Dugger Gym and will include Senior Night and a tribute to honor the late Rolf Engen, who was so instrumental in the success of the program in the 1970s.
Boys Tennis (1-1)
Breakers got off to a good start for 2019 on the strength of their doubles play, defeating Dana Hills 11-7 on Monday but narrowly losing 10-8 to Mater Dei on Tuesday, Feb. 12. Breakers host Aliso Niguel on Feb. 26 and play Mission Viejo the following day, then St. Margaret’s on the last day of the month.
