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NEWPORT BEACH Laguna Beach’s girls water polo team maintained its grip on the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup to set a championship milestone Saturday but not without a tough challenge from Corona del Mar.
Tea Poljak scored the eventual winning goal off counterattack with 2:55 left in the fourth period and the No. 1 Breakers held off No. 3 Corona del Mar and its breakout performers for a 9-8 victory at Newport Harbor High to capture the tournament for a record sixth consecutive year.
Laguna Beach’s six titles also passed Foothill (five) for the most championships in tournament history but the Breakers worked extra hard against upstart Corona del Mar and its improved duo of goalie Maya Avital and attacker Grace Myers.
“CdM is going to be one of our biggest competition,” said Poljak, who paced Laguna Beach (10-0) with three goals and three drawn exclusions. “It’s good for us to be on our toes. … (and) close game are more fun to play than blowouts.”
Avital, a first-year starting junior, made 17 saves to out-duel Laguna Beach UCLA-bound goalie Quinn Winter (eight saves). Myers, a hard-shooting sophomore, scored a momentum-shifting goal at the end of the first period and netted her match-high fourth goal with 47 seconds left in the fourth period to trim Laguna Beach’s lead to 9-8.
With about 20 seconds left regulation, Avital blocked a shot by the USC-committed Poljak for her 17th save but Laguna Beach maintained possession and ran out the clock.
“She takes a lot of the cage and does really well,” Poljak said of Avital.
Myers scored on a half-court shot to beat the first-period buzzer and help Corona del Mar weather a torrid start by Laguna Beach.
The Breakers scored the first three goals of the final on power-play conversions. The Breakers’ execution with the extra attacker foreshadowed critical success to come. Coach Ethan Damato’s team finished 5 for 6.
Laguna Beach’s emerging sophomore Kenedy Corlett scored a power-play goal with 6 seconds left in the third off an exclusion drawn by Imani Clemons to make it 8-5.
Corlett and fellow sophomore Nicole Struss each finished with two goals.
After Myers scored the first two goals of the fourth – one on a strike from 8 meters and another off a blast off the bottom of the crossbar on the power-play — Laguna Beach capitalize on an offensive foul near midpool in transition.
The Breakers took off on the counterattack and left-hander Emma Lineback assisted the goal by Poljak, who made it 9-7 with 2:55 left.
“Emma is really good at noticing an open player,” Poljak said. “It was a really easy shot for me because she set it up super well.”
A shot by Corona del Mar’s Sophie Wallace jarred off a side-post with 1:37 left, a near-miss that loomed large after Myers’ extra-man strike off a pass by Layne Anzaldo with 47 seconds left.
“We came out a little afraid in the beginning just because of a lack of experience in that big game but I think we matched their intensity,” Wallace said. “I think we just recognize our potential this year and well all came together as a team.”
Corona del Mar went 4 for 7 on the power-play.
More coverage to come from the Bill Barnett Holiday Cup
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