The 805 Santa Barbara Water Polo Club’s Boys and Girls 14-under teams brought home gold from the 11th annual Winterfest Water Polo Tournament held in Los Alamitos.
Winterfest is the first major youth water polo tournament in the 2016 club season. Santa Barbara entered 7 teams in age brackets ranging from 10 to 16U boys and girls.
The 14 boys advanced to the championship round with victories over San Diego Shores, Rose Bowl girls, and Colorado. After defeating perennial power Commerce 12-9 in the semis, the boys met Riverside in a close championship match that ended 7-5 in favor of Santa Barbara.
Coached by Cathy Neushul and Chris Parrish, the 14U gold medalists include Julian Bacon, Morgan Bacon, Dylan Fogg, Rex Goodner, Deacon Hill, Liam McCarthy, Ethan Parrish, Brandon Plasch, Chase Raisin, and Jacob Thielst. Brennan Bingham played in goal and Ethan Parrish was named MVP.
Santa Barbara’s 14U girls entered two teams in the tournament, with both advancing to the championship round. Coached by Connor Levoff and John Roemer, the 14A team included Riley Christen, Angela Drake, Emma Engmyr, Claire Kronen, Morgan McKillican, Cassidy Miller, Callie Scott, and Sabina Shackelford. The 14A’s defeated Laguna Beach, Clovis, and Santa Cruz to advance to the championship round where they beat Pacific Polo 5-3.
Levoff and Roemer coached the 14B’s to the final. The team included Shannon Connolly, Isabella Godlis, Abigail Hendrix, Megan Musick, Ella Prentice, Jewel Roemer, Delaney Scott, Faith Tedesco, and Charlize Winter. The 14B’s defeated Carlsbad, Back Bay and Huntington Beach by wide margins before crushing Pacific Polo 12-5 in the semis.
In an all-Santa Barbara final played at Elings Pool, the 14A’s prevailed 10-9 in a shootout to complete a gold and silver finish.
Other Santa Barbara teams that medalled include the 12U Girls and 16U Boys with Bronze medals.