Coming home, at last
Mike Sciacca
So much for the saying, “Home Sweet Home.”
The 2004-05 prep girls’ water polo season is already seven weeks
underway, and for the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo, it’s a
season that, thus far, has had them play 13 matches.
Each on the road.
Some far from home.
The road, though, might have the Breakers seasoned for a strong
finish to the regular season.
Such is the hope of Laguna coach Rick McKee, whose squad finally
plays a home match today by hosting Tustin in nonleague play.
Match time is 3:45 p.m.
“Yes, it will be nice to play a match at home,” McKee said. “It’s
a strange scheduling quirk this year, but the girls have really
adapted well to playing on the road.
“I think by playing in different environments during nonleague
play, it has really caused these girls to really come together as a
team.”
Laguna was 9-4, overall, heading into play this week.
The Breakers opened Pacific Coast League play Wednesday at
Northwood, and visited El Dorado Thursday for a nonleague match.
Late last week, Laguna was up in Santa Barbara to compete at the
top-notch Tournament of Champions.
The Breakers were seeded ninth in the 16-team tournament, and
posted an overall record of 2-2, alternating wins and losses.
They opened the event by defeating a very strong Montebello team,
10-9, then lost to the host school, Santa Barbara, 11-6.
They bounced back to handle Villa Park, 11-6, but fell to league
rival Corona del Mar, 11-8, in the tournament’s fifth-place game.
Montebello is ranked fifth in CIF-Southern Section Division I,
Corona del Mar and Santa Barbara are ranked No. 1 in Division II and
Division IV, respectively, and Villa Park is ranked third in Division
II.
Laguna is rated second in Division II.
“The girls gave a great performance in Santa Barbara,” McKee said.
“Montebello was seeded sixth in the tournament, and the girls really
played them very tough. Montebello’s a very physical team, so I was
very proud of the way our girls played.
“We also played Santa Barbara tough, and had a nice comeback
against Corona del Mar.”
Laguna held a 5-4 advantage on Santa Barbara, before the Dons went
on ta 7-0 run to take command in an eventual 11-6 win.
Corona del Mar had bolted to a 10-3 lead on the Breakers in the
fifth-place match, when McKee posed a challenging question to his
players.
“I asked them if they wanted to finish the game, to fight, and
they said, ‘yes,’ that they wanted to fight. They did.”
Laguna rallied to pull to within two of the Sea Kings, before
falling, 11-8.
“The girls’ character is huge right now,” he said. “They have such
a strong resolve. With every match, they are improving. What’s great
is that they haven’t played at their potential yet.”
Laguna will get a Feb. 9 rematch with Corona del Mar -- the final
day of league play.
In fact, beginning today, the Breakers will play seven of their
final regular season matches at home, including the finale with the
Sea Kings.
“We get to finish the better part of the season at home,” McKee
said. “That definitely will benefit us.”
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