LONG BEACH, Calif. – The No. 1 Santa Barbara City College Women’s Water Polo team (23-6, 5-0) won three out of four at Long Beach’s Battle at the Beach tournament over the weekend, including a win over No. 2 Golden West.
The Vaqueros’ lone loss was to the hosts, who—for some reason—were ranked fourth despite their only losses on the year being against the No. 1 Vaqueros and No. 3 Riverside.
Regardless, the Vaqueros’ win over Golden West was another top-five win with one last week of the regular season to go.
SBCC 17, Merced 3
The first match of the weekend, on Friday, was a typically dominant Santa Barbara performance. Taking an 8-1 lead into halftime, seven different players had scored a goal.
By the end of the 17-3 win, Julia Joseph and Luciana Grooms tied for the team lead with three goals apiece. Alina King had four assists, and Olivia Spieth swiped five steals.
SBCC 19, Saddleback 6
The 16-team tournament was split into four groups of four, and the Vaqueros had to beat No. 8 Saddleback to win their group. They had beaten them by 10-plus goals in each of the previous two meetings this year, and Friday’s second match was no different.
By the end of the first quarter, five different scorers helped them to a 5-0 lead. That grew to 10-2 by halftime and 16-5 at the end of three. The game ended 19-6 with freshman Catalina Marian netting six goals.
Jaeda Allen had five assists, and Larsen Jensen dished three. Goalie Ava Barclay made nine saves.
Long Beach 11, SBCC 8
Saturday was always going to be the more difficult of the two-day tournament as the bracket was likely to set up the Vaqueros with two fellow top-four opponents. Santa Barbara and Long Beach had played each other twice already this year—first a 10-8 Long Beach win before an 11-10 Vaquero win.
Two goals from Joseph sandwiched a goal from Jensen—a Long Beach native—for a 3-2 lead after the first quarter. Tessa Hidalgo scored late in the second quarter as the teams went tied, 4-4, into the break.
They stayed tied at the end of the third, with Grooms and Pamela Hernandez scoring on the final two possessions of the quarter. Naturally, it was proving to be another tight game between two teams vying for a state title.
However, Long Beach earned the victory on the day, playing in their home pool. The hosts’ defense proved strong, with Spieth scoring the Vaqueros’ only goal of the fourth quarter. Long Beach had 13 steals in their 11-8 victory to make up for their goalie only saving five out of 13 shots.
SBCC 17, Golden West 12
The Vaqueros were matched up with Golden West for the third-place game after the latter fell 7-3 to Riverside in the other semifinal. Santa Barbara had handled them in the two previous meetings—12-7 and 10-7.
This matchup was the highest-scoring of the three as the teams combined for 29 goals. The first quarter ended 4-4, with five goals in the final two and a half minutes.
Golden West surprisingly took a three-goal lead just a minute and a half into the second quarter. They would add two more to take a 9-6 lead at halftime, bidding for an upset.
But the Vaqueros came back almost immediately. Three goals in two minutes—with King assisting the first two—tied it, and King scored midway through the third quarter to give the Vaqueros a 10-9 lead. Each team scored on their final possession to go into the fourth 11-11.
In the fourth quarter, the Vaqueros played perhaps their best water polo of the weekend. From 12-12, they scored five unanswered goals in the last five minutes to end the game, with Joseph scoring a hat trick in the final frame alone. May Guidoux, Hernandez, and Makena Hansen all found the net, too, as the Vaqueros won 17-12.
King once again had four assists to lead the team. Joseph led the team with four steals and tied with Guidoux, Grooms, and Sophie McGehee with three goals.
The Vaqueros wrap up the regular season hosting the SBCC Halloween Invitational at Santa Barbara High next weekend, beginning Friday at 4:45 p.m. against No. 5 Orange Coast. They then play three games on Saturday—Halloween morning—beginning at 9:10 a.m.