Laguna Beach breaks through to sink Los Al

Laguna Beach’s fifth-ranked girls water polo team made timely plays at the end of each period Friday night against No. 3 Los Alamitos.

And not surprisingly, the Breakers’ time arrived against a team ranked above them in Orange County.

Yoshi Andersen scored six goals and blocked a late shot attempt to help push Laguna Beach to a 9-8 victory in a quarterfinal at the Irvine Southern California Championships at the William Woollett Jr. Aquatics Center in Irvine.

The Harvard-bound senior scored a goal in the final 32 seconds of each of the first three periods as the Breakers (19-5) did many of the so-called small things to notch the breakthrough victory.

“That’s huge,” Laguna Beach coach Ethan Damato said of the late-strikes. “I think (Andersen) is the best shooter in the county."

Laguna Beach plays No. 2 seed Newport Harbor in the semifinals Saturday at 11 a.m. at Woollett. Top-seeded and top-ranked Corona del Mar plays No. 4 seed Foothill in the 10 a.m. semifinal.

The Breakers led, 9-7, going in the fourth period and relied on their defense to seal their first victory against a higher-ranked team in the county this season. Andersen blocked a shot attempt in front of the Breakers’ goal in final seconds to preserve the victory.

But Andersen had plenty against Los Alamitos (19-5) and U.S. junior national team player Rachel Fattal.

With Laguna Beach leading, 9-7, with less than three minutes left, Melena Masson made a steal with 2:31 remaining as Griffins worked for Fattal.

About a minute later, Makenzie Fischer grabbed a cross-pass intended for Fattal.

Los Alamitos’ Ella Weber scored from the perimeter with 42 seconds left coming out of a timeout but the Griffins didn’t get closer.

“I think they might be the best team we’ve played,” Los Alamitos coach Dave Carlson said the Breakers. "Laguna Beach is scary good."

Andersen converted a penalty shot drawn by Lexie del Toro with 10 seconds left in the first period to give Laguna Beach a 5-4 lead.

Andersen scored from 7 meters with 32 seconds left in the first half to extend the Breakers’ lead to 7-4. The strike came after a save by Jenna Knott on a Los Alamitos power-play.

Los Alamitos cut Laguna Beach’s lead to 8-7 with less than 50 seconds left in third but Fischer, a freshman, drew an ejection. Fischer then fed Andersen for a power-play strike with 23 seconds left in the frame.

The Breakers dropped heavily on Fattal when she set 2 meters and held her to one natural goal. Damato praised Masson for her defense on Fattal and Sydney Saxe for her defense on Stephanie Mutafyan.

Laguna Beach also received strong contributions from Mackenzie Baldridge. The left-hander sparked the Breakers early in the second period by spinning a hard, cross-cage shot from the wing in off the far post to give the Breakers a 6-4 lead.

"Really good team win," Damato said. "In order to beat Los Al, you really need to have six people playing together (in the field)."

Carlson was especially impressed with Fischer, whose key third-period ejection came against Fattal.

"She's not good for a freshman ... she's just flat-out good (overall)," Carlson said.

Laguna Beach faces a familiar foe in the semifinals. Last week, Newport Harbor edged Laguna Beach in double sudden-death overtime.

"We're real excited," Damato of the matchup. "We looked at (this) tournament after we lost. ... We said, 'Look, if we want another chance (at Newport), we've got to beat Los Alamitos on Friday night. Beat Montebello, beat Los Al, we'll get them in the semifinals.' "

In other quarterfinals:

Newport Harbor 14, Dos Pueblos of Goleta 11: Attacker Carly Christian scored four goals at Woollett to help pace the Sailors, who led, 12-6, going into the fourth period.

Foothill 10, Santa Barbara 5: Kelsey Roland made 11 saves, including four against the Dons' power play, to lift the host Knights. Freshman Cana Manzella and Nikki Stansfield each scored three goals for Foothill.

Corona del Mar 12, Edison 8: Surging center Diana Murphy scored six goals to help lead the host Sea Kings. The teams were tied, 6-6, at halftime but the Sea Queens outscored Edison, 4-0, in the thrid.