VENTURA, Calif. – The No. 1 Santa Barbara City College Women’s Water Polo team (18-4, 5-0) won both of their games on Saturday at the Ventura Tournament, comfortably beating No. 4 Orange Coast (10-4) and conference foe Bakersfield (5-17, 2-4).

“Super proud of our girls for the weekend. This was the hardest weekend of travel we’ve had for any of my teams at SBCC,” Head Coach Chuckie Roth said, after the Vaqueros spent Friday playing at Division I San Jose State.

“For them to show up today and control both games was very impressive. I feel lucky to coach these women.”

It was also a bit sentimental, as longtime associate head coach Paige Treloar-Ballard coached her last day with the team. She assumed head coaching duties for the Bakersfield game.  

“Also, today was Paige’s first coaching solo win,” Roth said proudly. “She’s become a mainstay in our program for the past six years and has helped each one of these girls develop confidence in themselves.

“She will assume new roles in our program as a recruiting coordinator and program administrator, but her day-to-day interactions with the kids will change as she’s moving out of town. We are super thankful for the time we had Paige in our program on a day-to-day basis. She’s an amazing woman,” Roth concluded.

SBCC 12, Orange Coast 5

Tessa Hidalgo fed Olivia Spieth for the first goal of the opening top-four clash. Sophie McGehee found the net on a long-range shot right before Orange Coast scored their first.

After that, goalie Ava Barclay made a great save, and Spieth had two steals to keep the early lead—the second of which led to a breakaway for May Guidoux, who made it 3-1. The Vaqueros then made six subs; Larsen Jensen found Pamela Hernandez free at the back post to increase the lead. The first quarter ended 4-2 Santa Barbara.

Both teams struggled offensively in the second. Jensen’s five-meter was the breakthrough, and Alina King assisted Guidoux shortly after. Orange Coast scored late to bring it to 6-3 at halftime.

Luciana Grooms scored a minute into the third to build on the Vaqueros’ breathing room. Midway through, Barclay assisted Guidoux, who scored on a beautiful lob shot. Soon after, King scored a beautiful long-distance shot, and Julia Joseph won a five-meter and converted it.

Santa Barbara’s defense nearly shut out Orange Coast, who scored on their last possession, but nonetheless had a 10-4 lead into the fourth quarter.

Trying to shore up the win, Catalina Marian assisted Guidoux’s fourth goal to make it 11-4. The final score was 12-5, with Joseph the last goalscorer.

Santa Barbara 17, Bakersfield 2

On their first three possessions of game two, Penelope Nelson, Marian, and Spieth scored for the Vaqueros. Jaeda Allen assisted Makena Hansen‘s first goal of the day to make it 4-0 midway through the first quarter.

Hansen scored again before the quarter ended, and goalie Riley Olney pitched a shutout—5-0 Vaqueros after one.

Riley Granzella assisted Marian’s second goal of the game early in the second quarter. Allen’s second assist was to Mar Selikhanovich as Santa Barbara’s lead grew to 8-0 by halftime.

To begin the third quarter, Hernandez scored on a Sienna Barelli assist to make it 9-0, but the shutout ended on Bakersfield’s next possession. Marian completed her hat trick midway through, and Allen scored late as the Vaqueros led 13-1 by the quarter’s end. The final score was 17-2 Santa Barbara to keep their undefeated record in conference play.

The top-ranked Vaqueros look forward to hosting the SBCC Arena Invitational next Saturday, Oct. 17, at Santa Barbara High beginning at 10 a.m.