Girls’ water polo taking ‘one game at a time’ approach

When the CIF-Southern Section Division II girls’ water polo playoffs got underway Thursday (Feb. 14), Laguna Beach went into its first-round home match against Brea Olinda as the division’s fourth-seeded team.

It was the first step in what the Breakers hope will be a return trip to the D-II title game, which will be held at 1 p.m. Feb. 23 at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.

The score from Thursday’s first-round match wasn’t available at press time.

While the Breakers might have their sights set on yet another long playoff run, Coach Chad Beeler said it’s now a one-game season that can be taken only one game at a time.

“That’s all we can do,” he said. “We’re determined to play for a CIF title again but all the teams in our division are pretty competitive.”

Seeded ahead of Laguna in the Division II are No. 1 Dos Pueblos, No. 2 Villa Park and No. 3 Santa Barbara.

Laguna is in the same bracket as Dos Pueblos, which means the teams have the chance to meet in the semifinal round Wednesday (Feb. 20).

In head-to-head competition this year against those three teams, Laguna fell 7-4 at Dos Pueblos back on Jan. 10, won two of three matches this year against Villa Park, and split two meetings with Santa Barbara, winning 7-4 on Jan. 11 but losing 9-8 on Feb. 2 at the Southern California Championships at the Woollett Center.

“I think the top four teams have a legitimate chance to win CIF,” Beeler said. “I think that Villa Park, with as many seniors as they have on their team, can go very far. It may be their year.

“I didn’t think Santa Barbara would be that strong this year but they have a great head coach (Mark Walsh), and Dos Pueblos has a fantastic team of athletes and a great player in Kiley Neushul. I’ve seen her play since she was 12, and she’s always been pretty good. She’s the quarterback of her team.”

Laguna, at 19-8 overall heading into the playoffs, also is included in that mix of favorites.

“I think that we have a very good chance,” Beeler said. “It’s one game at a time but if we do get to meet Dos Pueblos, we’ll have to play our best game of the year and not make mistakes. But, first things first.”

Looming for Laguna after Thursday’s meeting with Brea Olinda, the Century League runner-up, is a potential second-round date Saturday with Marmonte League champion Agoura.

And Agoura, ranked fifth, had to get past No. 7 Ventura Thursday to advance.

Laguna took care of Agoura 15-10 on Dec. 20 but last year, the Chargers won a thriller from the Breakers in the Division II championship game at Belmont Plaza Pool in Long Beach.

Laguna wrapped up regular season play last Friday (Feb. 8) at Corona del Mar and lost for the second time this year to the Sea Kings.

Corona del Mar, ranked second in Division I, held on for an 8-6 victory.

The Sea Kings also edged the Breakers 6-5 on Jan. 11.

In the Feb. 8 match, Annika Dries scored four goals and Natasha Schulman had three assists for the Breakers.