Vikings times two capture NorCal and SoCal women's water polo regionals
State Championship Bracket
Regional Brackets: NorCal l SoCal
West Valley captures NorCal Regional title for the fifth straight season after upset win
LIVERMORE - For the fifth consecutive season the West Valley College Vikings are the northern California Queens of Chlorine. The 2nd-seeded Vikings outscored the top-seeded Sierra College Wolverines, 5-4, in a tense final quarter to escape with a 10-8 championship game win at Las Positas College on Saturday. West Valley and Sierra will be joined by San Joaquin Delta and Merced as the NorCal representatives at the 3C2A Women’s State Championships at Long Beach Nov. 21-23.
The championship contest between the only two NorCal schools to win a state title was close throughout, with WVC (23-7) holding a 4-3 advantage at the break. Sierra’s Makenna Perez and West Valley’s Sofia Orlandi Lazzarini scored in the third to make it 5-4 WVC heading into the final eight minutes.
After Marte Skibba opened the fourth with a goal for a 6-4 Viking lead, the teams traded scores until Hollick buried a five-meter to tie at 7-7 with 3:49 remaining. Skibba made it 8-7 at 2:14, but Heidi Green evened it up at 1:05. WVC’s leading scorer Bella Raynes, who picked up two ejections in the game’s first three minutes, re-entered and whipped in her only shot of the game for a 9-8 Viking lead with 45 seconds left. Skibba scored her third goal of the period to ice it with eight seconds to go.
West Valley goalkeeper Aspen Tweed, much as she had done in the semifinal against San Joaquin Delta, was nearly impenetrable against the Wolverines (27-6) with seven saves, including a key fourth-quarter five-meter rejection. Skibba ended the game with a team-high four tallies, followed by two each from Orlandi Lazzarini and Mia Sickler Lopez. Hollick paced Sierra with a game-high five goals, while Green found the back of the net with two big fourth-quarter scores.
Merced led San Joaquin Delta 3-2 after one quarter in the 3rd-place game, but was outscored by the Mustangs 12-2 the rest of the way in Delta’s 14-5 win. Goals from Kyley and Sydney Abril, and Savannah Rivera keyed Merced’s first, but the Blue Devils (16-13) were shut out in the second and gave up six in the third and four in the fourth to the Mustangs (25-12), while countering with only single tallies in each period themselves.
Delta’s Laine Woodard was huge in the win with four the Delta's six goals. Esme De La Torre had two in the third and finished with four, while Lauren Lucero and Ally Ratto had two goals each. Sydney Abril led Merced with three scores.
(Matt Folsom, CCCWPCA)
No. 1 Long Beach City topples No. 3 Santa Barbara City to win SoCal banner
COSTA MESA - Top-seeded Long Beach City stopped two-time defending state champion Santa Barbara City 13-7 to capture the 3C2A SoCal Regional championship Saturday at Orange Coast College. The region’s top four seeds – No. 1 Long Beach City, No. 2 Riverside City, No. 3 Santa Barbara City and No. 4 Saddleback - all advance to next weekend’s 3C2A Women’s State Championship, hosted by Long Beach City.
The top-seeded Vikings (35-2) proved to the rest of Southern California why that seeding was appropriate, using an overpowering second half to run over the Vaqueros (29-6) in the championship. With Long Beach holding a 6-5 edge after three, the Vikings scored seven in the final eight minutes to pull away. Olivia Slavens led the way for LBCC with four goals, while Jennifer Connelly and Mar Bernal each added three. Keeper Coryn Cavecche came up big in the final period, holding the Vaqueros to just two goals, while totaling 10 saves. For the Vaqueros, Cate Daland was the lone multi-goal scorer with two, while five other SBCC players found the back of the net once. Kate Densmore had 11 saves in goal for Santa Barbara.
In Saturday’s 3rd-place contest, an Orange Empire Conference rematch, Riverside City (19-7) used a strong first half and never lost the lead to Saddleback (20-12) for a 13-8 win. The Tigers held an 8-3 advantage at the half before the Bobcats pulled to within three after three quarters. But Nicole Robertson’s four goals and three each from Chandler Burrell and Abigail Ruiz helped the Tigers maintain their advantage all the way to the final horn. Hollis Munchoff led Saddleback with three goals in the loss.
Semifinals:
Long Beach 13, Saddleback 4 – A 6-0 run for the Vikings proved to be too much to overcome for the Bobcats as LBCC advanced to the finals with a convincing win. Olivia Slavens led the way with four goals, while Jennifer Connelly and Mar Bernal each tossed in three. Avery Reyes turned away seven Bobcat shots to pick up the win in the cage.
Santa Barbara 8, Riverside 7 – The two-time defending state champs, seeded third, were pushed to the limit in their semifinal tilt with the 2nd-seeded Tigers, but a late pair of goals helped the Vaqueros advance to the title game. Addie Lane had three goals for SBCC, while Lily Carrick and Jada Ashen each scored twice. Kate Densmore picked up six saves in the win. Nicole Robertson, Yosra Elseifi and Clare Baty each had two goals for RCC, while Sofia Mather came up strong with 10 saves.
(Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast College, and Matt Folsom, CCCWPCA)
