San Marcos High School played an outstanding defensive game and goalie Sophie Trumbull was brilliant, but it wasn’t enough to beat Laguna Beach in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 girls water polo final on Saturday at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine.
The Royals held the Breakers to one goal in the second half but suffered a 6-2 defeat in their first appearance in the Division 1 final.
Laguna Beach jumped out to a 3-0 lead in the first period, and that proved to be the difference as Breakers goalie Thea Walsh repeatedly denied San Marcos. Walsh finished with 11 saves.
The Royals’ Trumbull was equally tremendous in the cage, stopping 11 shots, including a one-on-one with Laguna’s U.S. Olympic gold medalist, Aria Fischer.
Fischer scored the first goal at the 4:55 mark of the first period. Bella Baldridge skipped a shot past Trumbull and scored again off a feed from Alana Evans. Walsh stopped four San Marcos shots in the period.
The battle inside between Fischer and San Marcos’ Paige Hauschild was fierce. Hauschild held the Olympian to just one goal. The two were teammates on the USA Youth National Team at the FINA Women’s Youth World Championships in December.
Smith got San Marcos on the board, taking an entry pass and beating Walsh from 2 meters.
But Laguna Beach answered with goals from Alexa Peros and Sophia Lucas to go up 5-1. Lucas scored on a power play, grabbing a rebound of a shot blocked by Trumbull and putting it away.
Trumbull was terrific in the second period, stopping three tough shots. She had seven saves in the first half.
Trumbull made a brilliant one-on-one save on Fischer for her 10th save of the game. The Royals won the third period 1-0, with Smith scoring the only goal with 48 seconds left to make it a 5-2 game.
Baldridge stole the ball and went coast to coast for the sixth goal.
Walsh stopped the Royals’ last shot at the buzzer.
— Noozhawk sports editor Barry Punzal can be reached at bpunzal@noozhawk.com. Follow Noozhawk Sports on Twitter: @NoozhawkSports. Connect with Noozhawk on Facebook.