LBWPC’s 12U girls’ squad captures gold

The Laguna Beach Water Polo Club’s 12-and-under girls’ team captured gold at the prestigious Southern Pacific Area (SPA) Cup tournament last weekend.

It was the first major title won by the 12U girls.

The Southern Pacific Area zone held its 49th annual water polo tournament for 12-U boys and girls clubs as well as the 10-U coed teams. The Southern Pacific zone covers all of Orange County and the Inland Empire and is the largest and most competitive of the 12 zones throughout the country.

The tournament for the younger players featured 57 teams in eight different divisions. Laguna entered one12U girls’ team in the six-team Platinum division, the strongest of all the divisions.

Laguna received the number one seed in the Platinum division with teams playing each other in a round robin schedule.

Laguna’s first game was against Huntington Beach Saturday and Laguna didn’t waste any time in claiming a 16-7 victory. In its next game, Laguna downed Northwood of Irvine, 12-9, and in its final game Saturday, defeated SET (Saddleback/El Toro), 12-5.

The competition Sunday for Laguna had the locals taking on two strong teams in United of Los Alamitos and Socal. In its first game that day, Laguna came out strong and took a 9-1 halftime lead on United and then held off a late charge to post a 12-10 victory.

Laguna’s final game, the championship final, was against the only other undefeated team in the tournament, perennial powerhouse Socal out of the Tustin area. Laguna was intense from the start and never looked back in taking a 14-7 win.

“We have the largest squad of 12-and-under girls that we have ever pulled together,” Laguna Beach Water Polo Club Administrator Chad Beeler said. “It consists mostly of fifth graders, but when we bring in all of our seasoned sixth graders, we are pretty tough to beat.

“Because we are a small club, we need to play some of our sixth graders on the 14-and-under team. However, I cannot be more pleased with the growth of the fifth graders and how this team is developing.”

— From Staff Reports