Santa Barbara City moved one win away from back-to-back-to-back championships with a 10-8 semifinal win over West Valley Friday at the 3C2A Women's Water Polo State Championships at Long Beach City College. Standing in their way is Long Beach City, a 17-8 winner over Riverside City in Friday's other semifinal. Top-seeded Long Beach (38-2) and No.3-seeded Santa Barbara (32-6) take to the water Saturday at 1:00pm. While the Vaqueros are looking for the first three-peat since Golden West won four straight titles from 1997-2000, the Tigers are seeking their program's fourth championship.
Game 2: 2S Santa Barbara over N1 West Valley 10-8
The first quarter ended 2-2, but a 4-0 second stanza gave two-time defending champion Santa Barbara a 6-2 halftime lead. A Jada Ashen penalty shot conversion, her second goal of the quarter, highlighted the Vaquero second. A 2-0 WVC run to open the second half helped the Vikings climb to within 6-4, but SBCC countered with a 3-1 run to end the third quarter and put the Vaqueros up 9-5 heading to the final eight minutes. Back-to-back goals from WVC's Mia Sickler-Lopez made it 10-8 with 4:15 to go, but the Vikings would get no closer.
Addie Lane led the Vaqueros with four goals, while Ashen and Daland had two each. Lily Carrick handed out a game-high four assists. Bella Raynes paced the Vikings with three goals, three assists and two field blocks, and Sickler-Lopez and Marte Skibba had a pair of goals apiece. WVC keeper Aspen Tweed posted another solid outing with eight saves.
