Mater Dei, Orange Lutheran and Newport Harbor girls water polo teams return to winning ways in Southern California Division 1 regional openers; Top seed Oaks Christian also advances

Laguna Beach was feeding off the momentum of its most significant win of the season and Mater Dei was looking to regroup following one of the most heartbreaking losses in program history when they squared off Tuesday in the Division 1 quarterfinals of the Southern California regional girls water polo playoffs.

And for one half, it appeared the sixth-seeded Breakers might be able to use their dramatic sudden-death overtime victory in the CIF-Southern Section Division 1 final Saturday as the catalyst to knock off No. 3 Mater Dei, building a two-goal lead at the break at the William Lyon Homes Aquatic Center.

But the host Monarchs responded with five third-quarter goals and held Laguna Beach scoreless for a span of 10 minutes, 50 seconds in the second half to rally for an 11-8 victory and return to the Division 1 regional semifinals.

Mater Dei (24-4), which bounced back following a 12-11 overtime loss Feb. 18 against Oaks Christian in a CIF-Southern Section Open Division pool-play match, will play Thursday against No. 2 Newport Harbor (25-6) – a 15-6 winner Tuesday against San Clemente (22-10) – at Corona del Mar High.

The Monarchs secured victories in two of three regular-season meetings against Newport Harbor, which rebounded from a 7-5 loss Saturday to Oaks Christian in the CIF-Southern Section Open Division final.

Kirra Pantaleon, a USC commit, had a match-high five goals, with Delaney Hook and Maggie Ryan both scoring twice for Mater Dei, which prevailed against Laguna Beach for the third time this season.

Kara Carver, a USC signee, led Laguna Beach with four goals, including the final three for the Breakers.

Ava Guziak scored twice for Laguna Beach, which built a 6-3 advantage with two minutes left in the second quarter.

Ryan cut into the deficit right before halftime for Mater Dei, which rallied to tie the score at 6-6 on goals by Hook and Pantaleon in the first two minutes of the third quarter.

Carver gave the Breakers their final lead at 7-6 with 4:30 remaining in the third, but the Monarchs answered with five consecutive goals to take control for good.

A pair of Pantaleon goals bookended another score by Ryan to give Mater Dei a 9-7 lead entering the final quarter, with EJ Hourigan and Hook extending the lead with contributions in the first four minutes of the fourth.

Carver scored again in the final 90 seconds of the contest to finally break the drought for the Breakers, who also received goals from UCLA-bound senior Presley Jones and freshman Maeve Mani.

Siena Jumani, a UC Santa Barbara-bound senior goalkeeper, had eight saves for Laguna Beach.

Orange Lutheran 13, Bishop’s School 7: For the fourth consecutive year, the fourth-seeded Lancers (24-4) advanced to the Division 1 regional semifinals, producing their third victory this season against No. 5 Bishop’s School at Santiago Canyon College.

Orange Lutheran girls water polo team | Photo courtesy of Orange Lutheran

Allison Cohen had four goals, six steals and five assists for defending Division 1 regional champion Orange Lutheran, which also received three goals from UCLA commit Jailynn Robinson.

Eve Webb and USC-bound Kate Sloman both scored twice for the Lancers, who also received seven saves and three assists from San Diego State signee Kyla Pranajaya.

Liz Nicoloff contributed a pair of assists, Estella Karaba had three steals and Kamryn Anderson added a goal for Orange Lutheran, which is attempting to advance to a third consecutive regional final when it plays Thursday in the semifinals at top-seeded Oaks Christian (23-7), a 10-7 winner Tuesday against No. 8 Carlsbad (18-12).

Although Oaks Christian won its first CIF-Southern Section Open Division championship, the Lions are winless this year in three regular-season matchups against Orange Lutheran, which regrouped following a 12-11 sudden-death overtime loss Feb. 18 against Newport Harbor in the final Open Division pool-play contest.

Despite winning a seventh straight CIF-San Diego Section Open Division title, Bishop’s School (18-11) was knocked out in the regional quarterfinals for the second year in a row.