Girls’ Water Polo Preview: Corona del Mar vs. Laguna Beach

CIF Southern Section Division 1 semifinal

No. 1. Laguna Beach (29-0) vs. No. 4 Corona del Mar (23-6)

When/where: Wednesday, 7 p.m. at Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine

Key Breakers: Sr. utility Makenzie Fischer (team-best 132 goals, team-best 56 steals, 42 assists); Soph. center Aria Fischer (83 goals, 44 assists, 41 steals); Soph. attacker Bella Baldridge (55 goals, team-best 74 assists, 43 steals); Jr. utility Mia Salvini (49 goals, 34 assists, 27 steals); Jr. goalie Holly Parker (198 saves, 34 steals).

Key Sea Kings: Jr. utility Maddie Musselman (team-best 96 goals, team-best 55 steals, team-best 36 assists); Sr. attacker Eliza Britt (67 goals, 45 steals, 18 assists); Jr. goalie Heidi Ritner (220 saves, 28 assists); Sr. attacker Grace Morgan (39 goals, 28 steals, 22 assists); Sr. center Kaybree Albright (33 goals, 16 steals, 7 assists).

Breakdown: Laguna Beach, the defending Division 1 champion, brings an Orange County-record 50-game winning streak into Wednesday night’s game … Coach Ethan Damato’s Breakers surpassed Foothill’s 49-game winning streak from 2002-04 by beating Los Alamitos, 18-5, in the quarterfinals on Saturday … Laguna captured all three major in-season tournaments, the Holiday Cup, Santa Barbara Tournament of Champions and Irvine Southern California Championships, for the second straight year … Laguna and CdM have met once this season, when the Breakers beat the Sea Kings, 9-3, in the TOC semifinals on Jan. 17 … CdM struggled on the six-on-five in that game, converting just one of seven opportunities … The Cal-bound Morgan has been hot lately for the Sea Kings, matching a season-high with five goals in Saturday’s 11-8 quarterfinal win over Orange Lutheran … This semifinal matches three players widely considered among the best high school field players in the nation, in the Fischer sisters and Musselman … Makenzie Fischer, bound for Stanford, has scored a program-record 450 goals for the Breakers in her career … This is Musselman’s first time playing under the lights in the CIF semifinals, as she was out with a broken wrist in CdM’s march to the Division 1 title two years ago and CdM was eliminated in the quarterfinals by Santa Barbara last season.

Prediction: Laguna Beach 8, Corona del Mar 6

— Matt Szabo