The No. 1 Santa Barbara City College Women’s Water Polo team showed exactly why they are worthy of that ranking this week at Cuesta’s Central Coast Classic, winning all four of their games—three against top-10 teams.
No one scored more than seven goals against them in any game on a weekend they averaged 16 goals scored. Despite a game not being played yet, they jumped from No. 2 to No. 1 in the 3C2A rankings, closely ahead of reigning champion Long Beach.
“I think they all played really hard,” head coach Chuckie Roth said. “They were positive, they were coachable, they received feedback well, so it was good—it was a positive outing.”
SBCC 12, Golden West 7
In Thursday’s first game against No. 6 Golden West, the squad’s talent was evident despite its growing pains. A defensive first quarter ended 1-0 Vaqueros, but both teams picked it up in the second quarter.
“I’m learning [the players], they’re learning me,” Roth said about the start. “It’s a crazy system when you meet a team and only have three and a half weeks to prepare, essentially. There’s a lot of things we can do better and a lot of things I can do better.”
Katie Strohl‘s beautifully lofted goal gave Santa Barbara the lead back midway through, and the half ended 5-4 in their favor.
The Vaqueros were able to pull away in the third, “winning” the quarter 5-1 and taking a 10-5 lead. That allowed them to cruise to a 12-7 first victory of the year.
Larsen Jensen and Strohl each had three goals. Illinois native Olivia Spieth had two goals and two assists. South African youth international Julia Joseph had two assists and two steals.
SBCC 20, Cuesta 7
In game two against the hosts, No. 9 Cuesta, the Vaqueros controlled the game from the opening sprint. Seven different goalscorers and six different assisters accounted for the 10-4 halftime lead for Roth’s heavily-rotated squad.
Again, in the third quarter, the Vaqueros turned it on. The score was 6-1 in the frame, culminating with a buzzer-beating goal from goalie Ava Barclay. Before that, the Vaqueros dug in to survive a six-on-four without conceding. The final score wound up being 20-7.
Spieth proved why she is such a highly-touted prospect, netting five goals. Jensen scored three, and Pamela Hernandez was solid defensively with four steals.
SBCC 16, Fullerton 7
Early Friday morning, Santa Barbara showed no grogginess. With an 8 a.m. start, the Vaqueros were up 11-0 at halftime. Joseph and Alina King both scored twice in the first quarter alone as 10 different Vaqueros scored a goal in the 16-7 win.
Joseph led all of them by netting a third later in the game, and the goalie Barclay had a team-leading three assists.
SBCC 17, Saddleback 6
Perhaps the most impressive performance of the four was in the 17-6 win over No. 7 Saddleback. The Vaqueros jumped out to a 5-1 lead after one and 11-2 lead at halftime.
Continuing the theme, five different Vaqueros scored all five first-quarter goals, and six different Vaqueros scored all six second-quarter goals. The same was true of the fourth quarter, in which they scored five more.
Like they did in other games, Barclay and Riley Olney shared goalie duties. That rotation carried into other spots; with only seven players in the pool at a time, Roth used 18 Vaqueros and still beat a top-10 team by double digits. That alone is emblematic of their quality in depth.
The Vaqueros now look ahead to some fun matchups next weekend. At the Saddleback Tournament, they start with Fullerton again before a date with No. 3 Riverside Friday afternoon. The next morning, they play No. 2 Long Beach at 8 a.m. before ending with a rematch with the hosts, Saddleback.