SANTA BARBARA, CA – The unbeaten Santa Barbara City College Women's Water Polo team defeated Ventura on Wednesday night, 15-7. They improved to 20-0, two wins shy of the best start in program history (2016).
The rivalry match was the first home match of the season for the Vaqueros, taking place at Santa Barbara High School. SBCC improved to 16-0 all-time against Ventura following the win.
With a solid crowd in attendance, the Vaqueros came out hot, as they usually do.
Offensively, the first quarter was the Claire Daland-Addie Lane-Lily Carrick show. Daland began the scoring just 22 seconds in, assisted by Lane, and SBCC was on their way. Just 16 seconds later, Daland returned the favor by assisting Lane to make it 2-0. Carrick then scored less than a minute after that, and it was 3-0 Vaqueros less than two minutes into the match.
Carrick then assisted Lane for the next goal, and Daland rounded out the scoring to end a 5-0 first quarter. The stout Vaqueros defense forced multiple turnovers leading to goals and shut out Ventura in the process.
Shortly into the second quarter, Cate Daland scored her first goal of the match, assisted by Maddie Myers. Following that, Lily Carrick assisted Claire Daland and it was 7-0 Vaqueros less than halfway into the second quarter.
Ventura finally would put themselves on the scoresheet before Esther Sullivan got in on the scoring, with an assist from Gabi Turnbull, to make the score 8-1.
Ventura would not go down quietly, though, and suddenly found a breakthrough in the Vaqueros defense. 3 goals in the last 2:06 before halftime shrunk the Vaqueros lead to 8-4.
An early goal to start the second half for Ventura now meant the score was at a much more tangible 8-5. However, SBCC would not let them hang around for long.
Lily Carrick spearheaded a 4-0 SBCC run to close out the third quarter, facilitating 3 assists in a four-minute span. She found Maddie Myers twice and Cate Daland once, while Addie Lane assisted Claire Daland for the other goal of the four. Going into the fourth quarter, SBCC had a comfier lead once again at 12-5.
Natalie Mancinelli helped see the Vaqueros through with 2 assists in the final frame, one to Addie Lane and another to Esther Sullivan. Claire Daland also scored goal number 5, with Caroline Oates assisting.
The defense held firm, allowing just 3 sporadic goals in the second half to eventually coast to the 15-7 victory.
Offensively, the final stat sheet for the Vaqueros totaled 5 different multi-goal scorers: Claire Daland (5), Addie Lane (3), Esther Sullivan (2), Cate Daland (2), and Maddie Myers (2). Lily Carrick was incredibly generous, tallying 5 assists, but also scoring 1 goal for herself. Addie Lane and Natalie Mancinelli also contributed 2 assists apiece. The Daland sisters were strong in multiple ways, combining for 7 exclusions drawn—4 for Claire and 3 for Cate.
Defensively, the Vaqueros were just as dominant, outside of the stretch at the end of the first half. Caroline Oates continues to be relentless defensively, as Kate Densmore remains stalwart in goal. Both garnered 3 steals, while Claire Daland had 5 to cap off her phenomenal all-around performance.
SBCC will take the weekend off before heading south the following weekend for the Long Beach Tournament, aiming for the best start in program history and to continue their undefeated season.
The weekend of October 27-28, the Vaqueros will play 5 matches at Dos Pueblos High School, in what looks like a can't-miss SBCC Halloween Tournament. The Vaqueros begin the weekend with 2022 Runner-Up West Valley and 8-1 Cabrillo on Friday, before hosting UCSB Club A, LA Valley, and Cal State Northridge on Saturday.
