Girls’ Water Polo: Breakers achieve perfection with CIF title win
IRVINE — Forty-eight hours before the final game of an undefeated season, the Laguna Beach High girls’ water polo team enjoyed a meal together.
Eating together was commonplace for the Breakers this season, but this time the players were in a bit different company.
Senior co-captain Claire Sonne had the idea for the team to volunteer at a local homeless shelter. The Breakers spent Thursday night serving peanut-butter-and-jelly sandwiches and hanging out at the Friendship Shelter on South Coast Highway.
“Being able to help the community together was really special,” Sonne said. “Homelessness is kind of a problem in Laguna. We see it every day, so I think being able to make an active difference as a team was really special. I think a big thing for our team this whole season has been selflessness, and I think volunteering parallels with that.”
Spend some time with the Breakers, and one gets the sense that this is a different kind of team. That selfless nature manifested itself all season for the top team in CIF Southern Section Division 1.
Two nights after volunteering at the homeless shelter, Laguna Beach got its stiffest test of the whole year from a determined Santa Barbara San Marcos squad on Saturday night at Woollett Aquatics Center. But the Breakers responded like the champions they were soon to become.
Senior co-captain Bella Baldridge scored three goals and Laguna Beach beat San Marcos, 6-2, to cap an undefeated 31-0 season and claim its third Division 1 title in four years.
The defensive battle resulted in the closest margin of victory and lowest goal total all year for the Breakers, but they still beat the Royals for the third time this season. And, they closed out a remarkable high school career for Baldridge and senior co-captain Aria Fischer, both bound for Stanford. Fischer, the Olympic gold medalist who had one goal, four steals and four exclusions drawn, finished with just one loss in her three-year varsity career and was undefeated in the postseason.
Overall, Laguna Beach is 119-4 over the past four seasons.
“I can’t speak enough about the character and work ethic of this group of girls,” Laguna Beach Coach Ethan Damato said. “They’re just an amazing group of young ladies in and out of the water. This senior class, I mean, come on. With Aria and Bella in the pool together, they lost one game in three years and won three CIF championships. Two undefeated seasons.”
Juniors Sophia Lucas and Alex Peros also scored for the Breakers, with Peros adding three steals. Junior goalie Thea Walsh capped off a big first season as varsity starter with another strong effort, making 10 saves.
The first quarter was key for the Breakers. Fischer scored her only goal of the night on a power play after drawing the exclusion, then the lefty Baldridge swam in and scored from six meters. Baldridge added another power play goal, assisted by junior Evan Tingler, and the Breakers had a 3-0 lead with 2:14 remaining in the first quarter.
No. 3-seeded San Marcos (26-6) got a goal on the opening possession of the second quarter on a strong drive inside by junior Piper Smith, assisted by USC-bound senior Paige Hauschild. But Laguna came right back on the next possession as Peros scored from six meters. Then Lucas scored a rebound goal later in the quarter, giving the Breakers a 5-1 halftime advantage.
Fischer played defense on her fellow national team player Hauschild, holding her scoreless in all three of the teams’ meetings this season. Fischer also got a bit frustrated on offense. She was excluded in the second quarter after being called for an offensive foul at mid-tank and complaining to the referee.
“She wasn’t getting much love tonight,” Damato said. “I was pretty frustrated as well, to be honest, but we got through it. Like we have all year, together we got through it. I’m really proud of them.”
The defensive effort, clearly, was big.
“We’re always looking to play defense first,” Fischer said. “It’s really frustrating as a team if you can’t score, so it’s always our goal to make the other team frustrated because our defense is nails ... I think [Hauschild and I] are two very different players. I have to adapt to her style of play, and she has to adapt to my style of play. It makes for a good, hard matchup for both of us.”
Smith did add a power-play goal for San Marcos late in the third quarter, cutting her team’s deficit to 5-2 as the Breakers were scoreless in the quarter. Junior Sophie Trumbull was also a big factor for the Royals, making 11 saves and two steals in goal.
“Defensively, I thought we played phenomenal,” San Marcos Coach Chuckie Roth said. “Sophie Trumbull is a very talented goalie. I think you saw the two best high school goalies in the country tonight in this game [in Trumbull and Walsh]. ‘Trum’ is a phenomenal goalie, we put a lot of pressure on her and she answered tonight. We played a good team defensive game. We had a really rough first quarter, unfortunately.”
Roth called timeout midway through the fourth quarter, trying to set up a play. But Baldridge had other ideas. She stole Trumbull’s pass to Cassidy Miller and was off to the races. Her counterattack goal pushed the lead back to four with 3:38 remaining in the game.
“I just really wanted to stop their timeout play, so I got that steal,” Baldridge said. “When I was swimming up, I saw Paige coming up behind me, so I was like, ‘I’ve got to work my butt off to work to this cage.’ I just swam super-duper hard, then I did a ‘screw’ shot and it worked out. It was kind of a blur.”
Soon, the Breakers were jumping into the pool in celebration. Sonne and juniors Alana Evans and Isabel Riches also had steals for Laguna Beach, which finished off its perfect season.
They partied in the water after the final whistle as they have done everything else this season.
In unison.
“I think every championship was special in a different way,” Fischer said. “This one is just as special, if not more, than all the rest, because it’s our senior year. Going out with a CIF championship makes it even more special, to do it with this group of girls.”
Twitter: @mjszabo
