San Marcos girls water polo’s memorable season came to an end with an 11-7 loss to Mater Dei in the SoCal Regional Championship on Saturday in Long Beach.
The No. 2 seed Monarchs were the top team in the nation all season, and avenged their CIF-SS Open Division title game loss to Oaks Christian with Saturday’s victory over the No. 5 Royals.
The Mater Dei defense took control of the game early, holding a normally potent San Marcos offense to just three goals in the opening half. The Monarchs led 5-3 at halftime.
The Royals made a few pushes in the second half, but the Monarchs held them off and pulled out the win.
The San Marcos senior duo of Charlotte Raisin and Bethany King once again held it down on both ends of the pool with four goals and ten saves, respectively.
The game marks the end of San Marcos head coach Chuckie Roth’s tenure at the helm of the program. Roth has been with the program for over 20 years.
In his final season, his Royals went 28-8, won the program’s fifth straight Channel League title and secured a top-four finish in the CIF-SS Open Division playoffs.