Laguna girls down Newport

14-and-under squad picks up a 6-2 victory on the road.The Laguna Beach Age Group Water Polo girls’ 14-and-under team traveled to Newport Harbor High to take on host Newport Beach and came away with a 6-2 victory in a match that went five periods.

In the first, Riley Duncan scored after retrieving a loose ball to give Laguna a 1-0 lead. Newport tied the score on a rebound shot moments later, and the quarter ended 1-1.

Laguna would not trail again, as Yoshi Andersen opened the second quarter by speeding to an open shot off the right side and netting a goal to make it 2-1. She scored again just 20 seconds later after winning a scrum in front of the net.

Kelsey Thorton later took a pass from Hannah Lawson and scored her first goal of the match to give the visitors a 4-1 halftime advantage.

Laguna continued its strong play at the outset of the second half, but it couldn’t score following a kick-out. Some solid perimeter passing between Duncan, Jesse Holechek, Jessica Shusko and Lexy Ross also resulted in no score.

The defensive play of Kacky Brown and Manetta helped to shut down Newport’s offense throughout much of the third quarter, but with just 16 seconds left in the quarter, Newport scored to trim the score to 4-2.

In the fourth period, Anderson and Melena Masson went to work against Newport. After receiving a pass from Anderson, Masson scored after faking a pop shot. Then, after a shot by Lawson hit the crossbar, Masson scored off the rebound to make it 6-2.

In the extra period, Edy Manetta came up with two big saves to keep Newport at bay.