Breakers move on

There wasn’t much suspense to the CIF Southern Section Division IV boys’ soccer wild-card game Wednesday between Laguna Beach and Morningside of Inglewood.

For the Breakers, it was a one-sided affair.

Laguna scored a pair of goals in each half and earned a shutout by defeating the Monarchs, 4-0, at Guyer Field.

The triumph sends the Breakers on the road “” the long road “” north for a first-round match at 3 p.m. today against Carpinteria. The Warriors won the Tri-Valley League championship.

“We’re moving on,” Laguna Coach Patrick Coyne said. “I was expecting a tougher match, but our boys really did a good job both offensively and defensively.

“I thought we looked like we did in our preseason form. We looked real good in preseason but hit a dip during league. Now, we’re fighting and battling for each other right. Everyone has picked it up at the right time of the season. Hopefully, we can carry that over to our game Friday.”

Laguna took a 2-0 halftime lead. The first score came on what Coyne said was Laguna’s “goal of the season,” a volley shot on a free kick from about 35 yards out off the foot of Tommy Hopper. That was followed by a Bryce Healey goal.

In the second half, Sam Stinnett scored and John Snedegar posted the final goal.

Alec Williams recorded five saves.

“I thought we had several good performances,” Coyne said. “Matt Anderson and Noah Michelson both played really well.”

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Girls’ soccer

The Breakers made their first trip to the CIF playoffs in years a memorable experience Tuesday.

Laguna needed an overtime goal to subdue visiting Artesia and move on in the Division III playoffs. Breakers freshman Marina Paul parlayed a free kick by teammate Holden Penney into the winning goal five minutes into overtime, a score that lifted Laguna to a dramatic 2-1 wild-card victory at Guyer Field.

The win advanced the Breakers (11-4-9) to play at top-seed Santiago (17-3-3) of Corona on Thursday in a first-round match.

The score wasn’t available at press time, but the winner advances to Tuesday’s quarterfinal round.

Laguna never trailed Tuesday. The Breakers took a 1-0 lead just 10 minutes into the match on an Alex Williamson goal off a pass from Christa French, who was brought up from the Breakers’ junior varsity squad. French took a through ball and streaked toward the Artesia goal before passing off to Williamson, whose shot from 20 yards out on the run went into the far corner of the goal.

“We held the lead and struggled throughout the balance of the match,” Laguna Coach Bill Rolfing said. “Artesia fielded some very fast players and comes from a strong league.”

The Pioneers were able to post the tying goal in the 74th minute to send the game to overtime.

The first “Golden Goal” 10-minute overtime saw “an all-out Breaker attack,” Rolfing said.

“This was a game we deserved, as we dominated and outshot Artesia, 15-5, in the match,” he said.

Five minutes into the first overtime, Paul finished Penney’s free kick for the winning score from 35 yards out and placed it at the far post.