Breakers capture tournament

The Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team can add the title of the inaugural California High School Championships to its résumé.

The tournament concluded Sunday, with Laguna capturing the championship by defeating Newport Harbor, 11-9.

The tournament featured several teams, including squads from Ventura, Santa Barbara, Palos Verdes, Clovis, La Canada, Villa Park, Edison, El Toro, Newport Harbor and Corona del Mar.

? Early action

Laguna cruised through the early rounds of the tournament, beating both Tesoro (14-3) and Mater Dei (19-5) at the new Mater Dei aquatics facility. On Saturday, Laguna took care of Riverside Poly (10-4) and Murietta Valley (17-2) at Corona del Mar. Breakers Coach Ethan Damato was able to sub his 13 players freely throughout the first two rounds.

? Final round

The final round was comprised of the top three seeds: Newport, Laguna and Corona del Mar. In the first game, Newport Harbor held off Corona del Mar by a 6-5 score and that outcome set up a Laguna-Corona del Mar match.

Corona del Mar 7, Laguna 6: Laguna took control early as its offense created multiple chances. Annika Dries scored midway through the first quarter off a feed from Lexy Ross for a 1-0 lead before Corona del Mar tied the score on a goal from the corner.

With the teams knotted at 3 at the half, Corona del Mar took control of the third quarter. An early score led to a lead the Sea Kings wouldn’t relinquish, eventually building it to 6-3. Although the deficit proved too much to earn a win, the Breakers’ ability to close the gap was key in earning a bracket tie-breaker.

With the one-goal loss, the Breakers needed to beat Newport Harbor by at least two goals to earn the championship, which is exactly what they did.

Laguna 11, Newport Harbor 9: Two goals by Annika Dries “” who drew a pair of kick-outs and was set up for a score by Taylor Dodson “” and another score by Dodson on a lob allowed Laguna to play Newport Harbor to a 3-3 standstill in the first period.

At the outset of the second quarter, another goal by Ross from out front, followed by Dries’ second and third tallies of the game, pushed Laguna into a 6-3 lead. The Sailors, however, scored consecutive goals to make it a 6-5 game at the half.

In the second half, Edy Manetta protected Laguna’s lead with a huge save on a point blank shot early in the third quarter. Then after a Laguna kick-out, Manetta made another save to deny Newport Harbor on a 6-5 advantage. Later in the quarter, Dodson had another sprint that led to another goal as Laguna increased its lead to 7-5.

The Breakers would score twice more in the quarter and led 9-6 entering the final period.

Newport took advantage of another 6-on-5 situation early in the fourth quarter to pull within 9-7. With 3:12 left in the game, the Sailors scored again off a lob to pull to within 9-8.

But Laguna retaliated with a lob of its own, this one by Dodson 14 seconds after the Sailors had drawn to within a goal.

With two minutes to go, Natasha Schulman scored from out top to build the Laguna lead to 11-8. As the clocking wound down, Newport scored on a scramble out front but could not get any closer, leading to Laguna’s championship.

MIKE SCIACCA covers sports. He can be reached at (949) 494-4321 or by e-mail at michael.sciacca@latimes.com.