Laguna Beach girls’ water polo routs Mira Costa on senior day
Senior day is a special thing for a program like Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo.
The class of 2020 isn’t big in numbers, but the Breakers made sure to honor their three seniors — Grace Houlahan, Morgan Van Alphen and Haley Parness — after beating Manhattan Beach Mira Costa 14-4 in their nonleague regular-season finale at home Friday.
Each of the girls have taken different paths to this position. Houlahan, a defender bound for Princeton University, and Van Alphen, an attacker bound for UCLA, are four-year varsity players. Parness, the Breakers’ backup goalkeeper who will play at Chapman University next year, didn’t start playing water polo until she was a sophomore.
Each received flowers from coach Ethan Damato and a few complimentary words from a junior teammate during a ceremony.
Houlahan, who has been working her way back from a separated shoulder earlier in the season, played throughout the match. Parness played goalkeeper in the fourth quarter and had one save and one steal, while Van Alphen didn’t play due to sickness.
On a team that has 11 juniors, the three seniors have also made their mark.
“Obviously, having Haley has been great, but what Grace and Morgan have done over the last three years is impressive,” Damato said. “Morgan is someone who shoots the ball so well. She’s been a value for us in practices and in games since she was young. She plays with so much courage and so much heart. Grace has just been a steady leader in our program, someone you can always count on to be there, be positive, be focused. She knows what’s going on. She’s super-intelligent.”
Top-ranked Laguna Beach (27-1) is expected to be the top seed in the CIF Southern Section Division 1 playoffs when the brackets are released Saturday morning. The defending champion Breakers will be going for their fifth Division 1 title in seven years.
They overcame a slow start against Mira Costa (20-8), not scoring their second goal until three seconds remained in the first quarter. Laguna Beach still broke the match open with six goals in the third quarter, taking an 11-1 lead.
Molly Renner led the Breakers with three goals, while Imani Clemons, Jessie Rose, Emma Singer and Ava Houlahan had two goals each. Nicole Struss scored just once but was extremely active, with five exclusions drawn and three steals.
Freshman starting goalkeeper Lauren Schneider made six saves in three quarters of action. Parness, who was the Breakers’ junior varsity goalie the last two years, took over to begin the fourth quarter.
“The amount of friends that I’ve made on the team, and the amount of memories we’ve made together is something that I think I’ll carry with me for a very long time,” Parness said. “It was a huge honor to be part of this team for me.”
Grace Houlahan, the starting set defender on last year’s Division 1 title team, has worked her way back into a starting spot after battling through the shoulder injury and sickness this season.
“These girls, this team is like our childhood,” she said. “These are the people we grew up with. Some of my happiest memories have been with this team. It’s so weird to have played here since we were such little kids, Morgan and I. Since we were 12, together we played in this pool. It’s extremely sad to have our last game together, but good at the same time.
“It’s definitely been tough not being able to play at the level I want to. Honestly, coming out here and playing every day with my teammates, having the opportunity to play again is worth it. I’m happy with that.”
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