Polo ladies recognized for title

Following a tournament where they represented their city so well, the Laguna Beach 12-and-under girls’ water polo team got some official recognition from the city Tuesday night.

The team, which captured a national age-group championship in August at the Junior Olympics at Stanford University, was honored at the Laguna Beach City Council meeting.

The team of 11 girls was applauded by the council, including Mayor Kelly Boyd, for wining gold in a tournament that featured over 350 teams from throughout the country in five different age groups.

In a packed council meeting, Boyd and City Council members introduced each girl individually and asked them to stand at the front of the room to be acknowledged for their achievement. Coaches Chad Beeler and Scott Baldridge presented the city with a plaque on behalf of the entire 12-and-under girls’ team.

Laguna Beach entered the national tournament seeded fourth, and ended up scoring 78 goals during the four days of competition. The team had a tournament-high margin of victory of about eight goals per game.

In the finals at Stanford on Aug. 2, Laguna faced its rival, top-seeded Newport Beach, the only team that had topped Laguna during the regular season. Likewise, Laguna was the only team to have topped Newport during the year.

The game was scoreless at the half, but Laguna surged to a 3-1 lead after the third quarter and hung on, 4-2, to capture the title.

The Laguna 12-and-under girls’ team ended up having one of the best seasons in the history of the program. The team won the year’s two biggest tournaments, the San Diego Cup in May and the Junior Olympics, beating Newport in both title games.

The club overall has also developed into one of the successful clubs in the country, given its size. The 10-and-under coed team took second place at the Junior Olympics, the 14-and-under girls placed sixth and the 12-and-under boys placed 12th.

Members of the girls’ 12-and-under team are Holly Parker, Brighid Burnes, Bella Baldridge, Aria Fischer, Katie Stanton, Julia Cox-Kruger, Daniela Lucidi, Sandonica Mwangi, Maia Borisoff, Makenzie Fischer and Haley Evans.

“” From staff reports