Laguna squads begin season with tourney victories

The Laguna Beach 12-and-Under and 14-and-Under girls’ club water polo teams opened their season on winning notes. Both squads won the Evan Cousineau Cup last weekend.

The 12U team opened tournament play Saturday at El Toro High with a 9-4 victory over Riverside. Later in the day, Laguna was a 12-7 winner over 680 Drivers Club of Northern California. In the semifinal round on Sunday, Laguna got off to a slow start against SOCAL but came on strong in the second half to post an 11-7 victory.

Laguna played Chino Hills Area Water Polo (CHAWP) in Sunday’s finals. The locals rolled from the start and cruised to a 6-2 victory to win the title.

The Laguna 12-U girls are: Thea Walsh, Joie Selin, Niva Razin, Audrey Duffy, Angelique Begay, Isabel Riches, Sophia Lucas, Danielle Borelli, Evie Cant, Samantha Loughlin, Evan Tingler, Alison Meany, Kalani Gee and Bryn Gioffredi. The team, coached by Matt Tingler, next will play at the Spa Cup Championships Nov. 4-6 at Woollett Aquatic Center.

Laguna’s 14U girls were impressive in winning their division. Laguna started tourney action Saturday at the Woollett Aquatic Center in Irvine with back-to-back convincing wins against Newport (16-2) and Northwood (15-4). The squad played Rose Bowl Club in the semifinals and led the entire game en route to a 10-4 win.

Laguna played Xtreme Water Polo Club of Corona in Sunday’s final and prevailed, 9-6.

The 14U team will play at the Spa Cup Championships from Nov. 11-13 also at Woollett Aquatic Center. The team is: Ally Jochim, Maia Borisoff, Holly Parker, Haley Evans, Natalie Selin, Julia Cox-Kruger, Aria Fischer, Katia Cox-Kruger, Bella Baldridge, Angelique Begay, Gabi Baron, Sophia Lucas, Emily Lassiter and coaches Scott Baldridge and Erich Fischer.

“We were very pleased with our girls this past weekend,” Fischer said. “Having both the 12 and 14 girls winning their age brackets in this tournament was a great start to the season.”