Newport Harbor moved on after handling visiting Villa Park, 12-1, in another first-round game Wednesday.
Damato, who guided the Laguna boys' team to a CIF championship in November, had plenty to be pleased with Wednesday.
"I thought we did a great job of taking it to them right away," he said. "By scoring those two quick goals, we took away the chance for them take any kind of momentum at the start. It was nice to see us come out and hit some big shots right away."
Laguna won the opening sprint and scored on a set play moments later. The Breakers scored on their first two possessions and went on to grab a 6-0 lead by the end of the first quarter. They continued their hot shooting and overpowering defense in the second quarter to go up, 11-1, at the half.
"Irvine's a good team that does a lot of moving around, but our girls did a really great job on the defensive end," Damato said. "We're really, really tough to score on right now and we're at the point where we are playing incredible team defense. Everyone contributes to it, in some way. It's awesome to see."
Laguna's balance at both ends of the pool was evident in the scorebook. Jessie Holechek scored a game-high six goals and added two assists and two steals. Melena Masson scored five times and came up with six steals and Jessica Shusko registered five steals, to go along with a goal and pair of assists.
Yoshi Andersen tallied three goals with two assists and two steals and Edy Manetta had six saves and a steal. Mackenzie Baldridge and Lexie del Toro each had a goal and steal, Lida DeGroote had a goal and assist, Riley Duncan had two assists and two steals and Sydney Saxe had two steals.
Laguna and Newport Harbor will meet for the first time this season. Damato said that the Breakers have played every team in the Division 1 top 10 this year except the Sailors.
