Laguna Beach Wins Girls Speedo Water Polo Cup

COLUMBIA, Missouri, November 13. THE final day was upon us. The 2006 Speedo Cup has come to an end. The boys finished on day 3, now it was the girls turn to stand in the spot light. Four California teams traveled across the country to play one another for this year's title. Commerce, Los Alamitos, Santa Barbara and Laguna Beach all started their trek to the title early on championship day.

Game 1 of the semi-finals was a fast paced that went down to the wire. Los Alamitos and Santa Barbara's fans traveled very well echoing a roar of cheers when ever they could. With a berth to the championship game on the line, each team wanted to win so badly. The momentum was never on the same side for very long. With Santa Barbara leading late in the fourth quarter 6-5, Los Alamitos needed a big goal and they got it, tying the score, 6-6.

Santa Barbara had the ball with less than a minute to go and a good look at the net, but goalie Tiffany Morales swarmed the ball and with :15 seconds left, Los Alamitos had a chance to win it in regulation. Los Alamitos's Kellie Guerin lobbed a shot toward the top left cross bar with :01 second remaining. Sure enough as time expired, the ball floated past Santa Barbara's Chloe Brooks and into the goal. Los Alamitos won in stunning fashion, 8-7. Santa Barbara would have to bounce back and be ready for the third place game against the loser of the Laguna Beach vs. Commerce.

In game 2, both teams were looking to advance to the title game to play Los Alamitos. Laguna Beach looked poised in the early going rattling off a couple goals, but Commerce wasn't going to back down. With the score 5-1 in favor of Laguna Beach half way through the second period, Commerce's Laura Lopez netted three goals to bring the score to 5-4. The second half was played much like that of the first half, having timely goals and well played defense. With the score tied 7-7 and less than two minutes remaining, Laguna's Riley Anne Duncan put her team a head, this time for good. Laguna added one more goal to make the final score, 9-7.

The bronze medal paired 3-2 Commerce against 3-2 Santa Barbara. Both teams had emotional losses in their semi-final matches and were looking to rebound with a bronze medal win. Commerce's Zoraida Martinez put her team on the score board first, in the opening quarter. It was a scarce quarter for goals with Martinez's being the only one. Things picked up in the second quarter with Kiley Neushul scoring two of the teams three goals. With the score tied at half-time 3-3, the second half would be critical.
Going into the fourth quarter, Santa Barbara had a 6-4 lead, but Christina Burrola and Unica Garcia each added a goal to even the score, 6-6. Each team had an opportunity to win in regulation, but no one converted and the game went to a shoot-out. In the shoot-out, both teams traded goals, until Commerce's Leticia Perez blocked Zoe Kirker of Santa Barbara's shot to win the game and the bronze medal.

"I was nervous but I was also extremely excited," said Laura Lopez of Commerce. "We didn't want to go home without a medal, so we didn't let the semi-final game bother us."

The championship game looked to be a dog fight with 5-0 Laguna Beach against
4-1 Los Alamitos. Having played against each other twice in as many weeks and being only miles away from one another in Southern California, both teams hit the road to Columbia, MO to face-off for the Speedo Cup championship. Both sides had a large amount of support in the stands. The fans were what helped the girls in the water.

"Laguna is a pretty small area, but we got a huge crowd here today," said Laguna Beach player Melena Masson. "This whole thing has been pretty exciting."

The game was a low scoring affair. Laguna had the early 1-0 lead in the first quarter from Jessie Holechek. In the second quarter, Masson added another goal to put Laguna up, 2-0. In the closing seconds of the first half, Rachel Fattal of Los Alamitos found the back of the net and closed the Laguna lead to one. In the third quarter the only goal that was scored was by Erica Beebe of Los Alamitos to tie the score, 2-2. The teams traded goals until the last :30 seconds, when Kelsey Thornon of Laguna Beach scored the game winning goal. Laguna Beach was crowned this year's Speedo Cup champion.

"We never thought we would win gold," said Masson. "This has all been an honor… I'm just excited."

MAUREEN O'TOOLE AWARD WINNERS:

Baytown, TX – Taylor Barnett
Chicago, IL – Stephanie Fernandez
Commerce, CA – Niki Deleon
Diablo, CA – Maggie Steffens
Greenwich, CT – Erica Meehan
Laguna Beach, CA – Melena Masson
Lincoln Park, CA – Ashley Henderson
Los Alamitos, CA – Rachel Fattal
Miami, FL – Ashleigh Johnson
Santa Barbara, CA – Tiera Schroeder
Stanford, CA – Emily Dorot
Vista, CA – Demi Barrett

GIRLS DAY 4 STANDINGS

Laguna Beach, CA 6-0 (1ST place)
Los Alamitos, CA 4-2 (2nd place)

Commerce, CA 4-2 (3rd place)
Santa Barbara, CA 3-3 (4th place)

Diablo, CA 4-1 (5th place)
Stanford, CA 2-3 (6th place)

Vista, CA 2-3 (7th place)
Miami, FL 1-4 (8th place)

Greenwich, CT 2-3 (9th place)
Baytown, TX 1-4 (10th place)

Lincoln Park, IL 1-3 (11th place)
Chicago, IL 0-4 (12th place)

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