Photo caption: Back row L-R: Erich Fischer (Coach), Aria Fischer, Sydney Baba, Danielle Borelli, Evie Cant, Thea Walsh, Kyla Whitelock, Evan Tingler and Matt Tingler (Coach) Front row L-R: Audrey Duffy, Angelique Begay, Isabel Riches, Katya Cox-Kruger, Alana Evans, Sophia Lucas.
By Steve Riches
Last month, Laguna Beach Girls 14U girls water polo team won 1st place in the Regional Junior Olympic Qualifying Tournament. Qualifying Tournaments are held nationwide in different regions to choose a select group of teams to compete in this summer’s National Junior Olympic Water Polo Championships.
In the gold medal game of the Regional Junior Olympic Qualifying Tournament, the Laguna Beach girls battled against the top ranked SOCAL team. Laguna and SOCAL have battled hard during the course of the season with SOCAL having won the previous meetings, but this time it is was Laguna who came out on top with an exciting 6-5 win with the go ahead goal scored with only seconds remaining in the game.
Last weekend the girls travelled to the “invitation only” US Club Championships and returned home with the bronze medal against the top 16 teams in the nation in the 14 and under division.
In the preliminary rounds of the US Club Championship, Team Laguna racked up 3 straight wins over Xtreme (Corona, CA), SET from Lake Forest and Los Angeles based Rosebowl team. In the quarter final matchup it was Laguna who kept San Diego Shores at bay with an 8-5 win. In the Sunday morning semi-finals, Laguna's girls fought hard against the top-ranked team from Santa Barbara. At halftime, Laguna was up by 2 goals, but in the second half, Santa Barbara’s more experienced team pulled ahead and won 13-7. For the bronze medal game, Laguna faced the Northern California's 680 Drivers team in a tough, neck-and-neck game resulting in a great 9-7 win for Laguna.
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