Laguna bounces back for third at TOC

SANTA BARBARA — After making a cross-cage shot from near mid-tank on Saturday afternoon, all Laguna Beach High junior Bella Baldridge could do was turn around and flash a big smile.

There weren’t necessarily a lot of smiles to go around for the Laguna girls’ water polo team this weekend. On Thursday night, they lost at Dos Pueblos, 11-7, in a nonleague game that snapped their Orange County-record 63-game winning streak. On Saturday, they fell to Orange Lutheran, 8-7, in a Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions semifinal to end their streak of seven straight regular-season tournament titles.

But even if it was perhaps a weekend to forget, the Breakers made sure it was a final game to remember. Baldridge scored three goals as the Breakers dominated San Marcos, 10-3, in the Tournament Of Champions third-place game at Santa Barbara High.

Baldridge and senior goalie Holly Parker were all-tournament team selections for top-seeded Laguna Beach (14-2). Baldridge also had four steals, an assist and a field block in the third-place game, while Parker made 15 saves.

“Obviously the tournament up here has been super-competitive,” Laguna Beach Coach Ethan Damato said. “It’s been a tough weekend, and we really haven’t played very well. It was great to get a game to see our team come out and play the we’re capable of playing, and really just see the girls having some fun, playing together and smiling. I think we missed that for the last few games.”

Senior Haley Evans, sophomore Evan Tingler and freshman Sophie Legget all scored twice for Laguna in the third-place game, and sophomore Sophia Lucas added a goal.

The Breakers came into the weekend as the top-ranked team in CIF Southern Section Division 1, while San Marcos was No. 2. Those rankings will more than likely change after No. 4-ranked Orange Lutheran captured its first TOC title Saturday, besting Foothill, 8-7 in sudden death, in the title game. Lancers senior Kelsey Tyler earned tournament MVP honors.

But Laguna Beach was simply dominant against San Marcos, as Parker only allowed two goals, both to San Marcos junior Paige Hauschild, before she was subbed out midway through the fourth quarter. One of the goals was on a penalty shot, and one was on a one-on-nobody breakaway. Backup goalie Thea Walsh subbed in to make two saves late.

“We put a really good defensive effort together in that game,” Damato said. “Obviously, Holly was very good as well, but I think it was a credit to the defenders around her and what we did together. We do a lot by committee, but Sophie Legget had a great game guarding two meters. Mia Salvini was guarding, and Haley Evans was matched up on Paige Hauschild. I think those were some key matchups for us.”

Baldridge’s shooting was also key, as she recovered from what Damato called a tough-shooting weekend. The make from mid-tank, which came on the first possession of the third quarter, was hard to believe.

“I was very surprised,” Baldridge said. “I made sure that everyone else was covering, because you don’t want to shoot and have people [counterattacking]. I saw cross-cage was open, and I was like, ‘OK, let’s try it.’ I just passed it there, basically.”

Baldridge, Evans and senior Natalie Selin each scored twice in the tournament semifinal loss to Orange Lutheran, while Parker made 10 saves. The Breakers started slow, falling behind 4-1 midway through the second quarter, and never could quite catch up.

They pulled within a goal five different times in the second half. The last time was when Baldridge found Evans on the power play, closing the deficit to 8-7 with 1:29 left in the fourth quarter. But the Lancers got two steals on the final two Laguna Beach possessions to ice the victory.

Emma Skelly scored a game-high four goals for Orange Lutheran, while Myna Simmons added three.

The semifinal loss ended the second streak of the weekend for the Breakers, the first being the 63-game winning streak that Dos Pueblos snapped on Thursday night. Laguna did win its first two Tournament of Champions games on Friday, 7-2 over Santa Margarita and 7-6 over Santa Barbara.

“The streak carried a lot of weight,” Damato said. “It wasn’t very important to me, but it was important to the girls. They were heartbroken. It’s easy to say the pressure’s off from the outside looking in, but we’ve got a lot of girls in there that didn’t want to lose a game. It’s been hard, no question. I was happy to see us get through it in this last game [against San Marcos] and play the way that we’re capable of playing.”

So was Baldridge. Finally, she had a reason to smile. And she believes that the Breakers, the two-time defending Division 1 champions, will respond to this adversity.

“How we’re going to come out of this is not only going to help us with our water polo careers, but also kind of with our life afterwards,” Baldridge said. “[We want] to show that even when you lose, you can get back up on the horse. I think it shows who the real tough people are after a loss. You don’t keep your heads down. You work harder and you play for each other.”