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Laguna Beach girls water polo holds off Rosary in CIF-SS Division 1 playoff opener

February 7, 2025

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Laguna Beach’s girls water polo team played Thursday in a lower playoff division against an opponent it defeated a month ago.

Fortunately for the Breakers, they arrived highly motivated.

Laguna Beach used a blistering first period to defeat Pacific Coast League foe Rosary 12-9 in a CIF-SS Division 1 first round match at El Toro High.

In advancing to Wednesday’s quarterfinals at Harvard-Westlake, the Breakers (17-11) scored the first five goals, including three by Presley Jones. They later overcame foul trouble and hot shooting from Rosary (17-9) in the fourth period.

“(The start) was our make or break (moment),” said Laguna Beach’s Kara Carver, a USC-bound senior who netted a match-high five goals. “I feel our best games are when we have a really great start and when we go on a run. That just brings the momentum into the rest of the game.”

“Although we lost some of that, we gave ourselves a good cushion in the beginning.”

Making its first appearance outside the top playoff division since 2011, Laguna Beach led 5-0 after the first period.

Jones, a UCLA-bound senior, scored the first three goals, including two off counterattacks.

“Last time that we played (Rosary), the way we came out wasn’t our best,” Jones said, referring to a 10-4 win in league. “We weren’t very energized so we wanted to change that. Our preparation going into this week was to counter hard and come out with the energy and set the tone.”

Laguna Beach led 8-2 at halftime and 9-2 early in the third period on a strike from center by Brooke Schneider (five assists).

For the most part, the new division assignment looked like a non-issue for Laguna Beach.

“It’s different, especially for us being in Open the past three years, but it’s a good opportunity,” Carver said of Division 1. “We have a good shot at winning, if we play our best.”

Rosary, the Division 4 champion last season, scored five goals in the fourth period — mostly on lobs shots from the perimeter — but never got closer than three goals.

Carver opened the fourth by winning the sprint and scoring on a lob for a 10-4 lead. But she fouled out moments later on a penalty drawn by Lexi Velazquez.

Velazquez, a senior, converted the penalty shot for one of her three goals in the fourth period. She finished with three goals to share the team-lead with left-hander Madilyn Ekstrom, a senior committed to Marist.

Rosary coach Gabriel Martinez said inexperience in Division 1 slowed his players early.

“In basically three years, we’ve went from Division 5 to Division 1,” he said. “Once (we) got warmed up, I thought (we) played really, really well.”

In the second half, Martinez aggressively released defenders to offense before the end of the shot clock.

Rosary senior goalie Tyler Jackson finished with 10 saves in her duel with Laguna Beach senior and UC Santa Barbara-bound Siena Jumani (five saves).

The Royals converted 4 of 8 chances from the extra attacker while Laguna Beach went 0 for 1.

In other Division 1 matches:

JSerra 13, Agoura 8: Juniors Maddie Weston and Gabby Elbaz each scored four goals to lead the host Lions (17-6), who play at Dos Pueblos in the quarterfinals.

San Clemente 7, Sunny Hills 4: Uncommitted senior goalie Audrey Bogard had 17 saves at Capistrano Valley in the loss for the Lancers, who led 3-2 at halftime. San Clemente (20-8) outscored Sunny Hills 5-1 in the second half. The Tritons play at South Coast League foe Beckman in the quarterfinals Wednesday.

In Open Division group matches:

In Group A:

Mater Dei 10, Corona del Mar 4: Sienna Sorensen made 11 saves, Kirra Pantaleon netted five goals and Paige Segesman drew five exclusions to lead the top-seeded and host Monarchs (22-3).

In Group B:

Orange Lutheran 14, Foothill 4: Jailynn Robinson scored five goals, four different players added two apiece and Kyla Pranajaya collected seven saves to lead the No. 2 Lancers (22-3) at Orange Coast College.

Newport Harbor 12, Long Beach Wilson 8: Lydia Soderberg recorded eight saves, Emerson Mulvey scored three goals and Gabby Alexson drew four exclusions to lead the Sailors (22-5) at Corona del Mar High.

Orange County Register

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Laguna Beach girls water polo holds off Rosary in CIF-SS Division 1 playoff opener

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