Women's Water Polo State Title Returns To SCC Member Long Beach

LONG BEACH - Long Beach City College's 4-goal, third quarter carried the Vikings an 11-6 win over Santa Barbara CC to capture its first 3C2A State Women's Water Polo championship in 18 years on Saturday. The victory is the program's fourth crown in women's water polo. LBCC win ends Santa Barbara's two-year run as state champs. 

The No.2-seeded Vaqueros (32-6) swam to a 2-0 lead out of the ball-drop, but the top-seeded Vikings (39-2) evened it up with South Coast Conference 2-time MVP Olivia Slavens' goal at 2:53 and a Gabrielle Gillott tally at :19. Santa Barbara charged back into the lead at 4-3 with back-to-back goals from Maddie Meyers but, much as they did in the first quarter, Long Beach countered with two late goals, one from Jennifer Connelly at 2:59 and another from Lola Annear at :16, to take a 5-4 lead into the break.

The Vikings all but clinched the championship by blanking the Vaqueros 4-0 in the third. Jasmine Lopez scored on LBCC's first possession, and goals from Connelly (6:25), Elizabeth Jung (5:25) and Annear (1:52) gave the Vikings what would prove to be an insurmountable 9-4 lead heading into the final eight minutes.

SBCC's Cate Daland opened the fourth with a goal to bring SBCC to within 9-5, but a stifling Viking defense and back-to-back tallies from Connelly at 1:40 and Slavens at :43 put it away.

"I couldn't ask for a better scenario with such a connected team that fought for each other all year," said winning coach Chris Oeding. "Playing at home in the state championship for the first time in over 20 years made it incredibly special. I couldn't be prouder of these girls."

Annear and Connelly paced the LBCC scorebook with three goals each, followed by two from Slavens and one each from Gillott, Jung and Lopez. Meyers led the Vaqueros offense with two goals.

It's the 243rd state title in SCC sponsored sports.

ALL-SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE TEAM, released

Article courtesy of Matt Folsom, CCCWPCA and for the 3C2A