Breakers double their pleasure

The Laguna Beach boys’ water polo team had San Clemente’s number.

Not once, but twice, within a four-day period.

On Tuesday, the Breakers traveled south to face the host Tritons in a nonleague match and emerged with a 15-12 victory.

That win came on the heels of the teams’ first meeting this season, which came Saturday at the South Coast Tournament. In that match, Laguna came away with an 8-6 triumph.

The two wins avenged a CIF playoff loss last fall to the Tritons.

“It was nice to beat them twice in a row,” Laguna Coach Chad Beeler said. “But I thought our defense could have played a lot better Tuesday. We shouldn’t have given up so many goals. We were all right through the first half but had some mental breakdowns in the third quarter that allowed San Clemente to stay in the game.”

Laguna never trailed in Tuesday’s match. Pierre Masson dominated the scoring from the set position and netted a match-high 10 goals.

Nathan McConnell scored three goals and Sean Dorse and Victor Alcone each scored once.

Goalie Warren Murrel recorded 11 blocks and Laguna also got strong defensive efforts from Alcone, McConnell, Masson, Max Munoz, David Brunner and Brett Thompson.

Saturday’s win capped Laguna’s play at the South Coast Tournament that was held at four county pools and hosted by Newport Harbor High. Laguna went 2-3 in the tournament to earn 15th-place in a 32-team field.

Besides San Clemente, Laguna also defeated Edison (12-6) at the tournament.

The Breakers’ losses came to highly-ranked teams: 14-7 to El Toro (No. 2, Division I), 12-3 to The Bishop’s School of San Diego (No. 3, Division II San Diego Section) and 11-7 to Corona del Mar (No. 6, Division I).

Murrel had 13 blocks in the loss to El Toro.

Laguna is currently competing at the Villa Park Tournament. The 32-team event runs today through Saturday.