Laguna Beach boys’ water polo outlasts Sage Hill
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The Sage Hill School boys’ water polo team held senior day festivities at halftime of Wednesday’s Pacific Coast League game against visiting Laguna Beach.
This gave the Lightning an opportunity to honor the team’s seniors, Christian Lu, Ethan Guan and Gavin Du, for their contributions.
For the visiting Breakers, the longer intermission provided an opportunity to regroup after an uneven first half against their rivals.
“We had that long break at half to do a couple of laps, just mentally reset,” Laguna Beach senior Finn Leverty said. “That really helped us get into our groove, I think, and come out firing with a hard press and a hard counter.”
The Breakers finished strong to claim a 13-10 victory in the league regular-season finale, clinching the top seed for next week’s league tournament at Northwood High.
Both defending champion Laguna Beach (19-6, 6-0 in league) and Sage Hill (13-6, 5-1) will have byes into the tournament semifinals on Tuesday.
The Breakers scored four straight goals in Wednesday’s match, turning a 9-9 lead early in the fourth quarter into a comfortable advantage. Senior captain Dane Seybold, who scored a match-high four goals, netted two of those in the run, while Mason Jakle and Masen McKinzie also connected.
“We have the ability to be hot when we’re being confident and aggressive,” Breakers coach Camron Hauer said. “We can shoot well from the outside when we decide to. I felt like we played kind of timid in the beginning, then we just started getting confident and just escalated into the next quarter and the end of the game.”
Laguna Beach, which had a program record 24 wins last year and advanced to the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs, is having a strong follow-up. That’s despite not having a pool, as the Breakers’ new complex is under construction.
Hauer said the team has limited time to practice, two hours at El Toro High each afternoon.
“We’re in the mix,” he said. “I think we’re hitting our stride. That fourth quarter was great — I thought we broke through a wall right there. We’ve been having a hard time shooting from outside throughout the season, and I feel like we’re figuring it out.”
Leverty, Jakle, Mason Gruba and Ellis Minck all scored twice for the winners, who trailed 5-4 at halftime. Goalkeepers Henry Day (first half) and Shore Barry (second half) combined for eight saves.
Several of the Breakers exchanged hugs with the Sage Hill players following the final whistle, as they have played club water polo for the Imperial program headed up by Lightning coach Pavle Filipovic.
“They came out firing, really strong,” Seybold, one of the Imperial club players, said of the Lightning. “But at the end of the day, we just stuck to our roots and got back to our fundamentals toward the second half, and we found a way to get that win.”
Guan, Bobby Ray, Jax Postiff and Aaden Hoang led Sage Hill with two goals each, with Lu and Cadel Westcott also contributing goals.
Lightning junior goalkeeper Noah Rothbard made 10 saves and was a vocal presence in the cage.
Filipovic gave the Breakers credit for their counterattack, calling it one of the difference makers in the result.
“We managed the game well, but then I feel like we were missing a little bit of hustle on defense,” he said. “There were a bunch of extra opportunities that they got. I think it really came down to a couple of defensive stops and closeouts, but I liked that we were shooting fairly well from different positions. Our centers did a decent job with inside water finishes and drawing some kickouts, so those are all positives.”
Prior to the league tournament, Laguna Beach plays at Westlake on Friday, while Sage Hill is a co-host of the Steve Pal Memorial Tournament this weekend.
