Carpinteria girls water polo earned a share of the Citrus Coast League title with a 15-6 win over Santa Paula on Thursday.
The Warriors are co-champions with Santa Paula after both teams finished 9-1 in league play. Santa Paula had beaten Carpinteria twice before this matchup.
“It’s tough to beat a team three times in a season, you learn the other team’s tendencies and you try to anticipate and make in-game adjustments,” Warriors coach Jon Otsuki said.
Carpinteria jumped out in front early thanks to strong play from Mina Handall and Lilli Nemetz, each scoring multiple goals in the first half to give their team a 7-3 lead at halftime.
“Mina came up big for us today, she was the X-factor we needed today,” Otsuki said.
The Warrior defense continued to dominate throughout the second half, and Giulia Piccoletti netted four of her five goals in the final two quarters to propel Carpinteria to the win.
While Piccoletti led all scorers, Nemetz (4), Handall (3) and Hazel Dugre (2) all scored multiple goals as well. Caden Lemer rounded out the Warrior scoring with one goal.
Defensively, Allison Banks came away with an impressive 11 saves.
“The girls put everything together today on both ends of the pool but the big difference was that we made fewer mistakes,” Otsuki said. “We communicated well and we came ready to play.”
Carpinteria (16-7, 9-1 CCL) will await its first round playoff draw on Saturday.
