Sierra gets game-winner in overtime to win school's and NorCal's first women's water polo state championship
Team Stats
Fullerton
Sierra
SARATOGA - Sierra College won the first-ever CCCAA Women's Water Polo Championship by a team from the Northern California Region on Saturday morning when Shanti Reisinger converted a penalty shot goal with two minutes remaining in overtime to lift the Wolverine's to a historic 7-6 victory over Fullerton at West Valley.
The Wolverines (29-2-2) returned to the championship game for the second year in a row but this time will take home the first-place trophy after an exciting victory over the Hornets (29-3). Rory Nuuhiwa led all scorers with three goals for Sierra while Reisinger added two. Stephanie Friesen, Maddison Potts and Morgan Jones each added one. Jessica Contreras and Bryana Santis tallied a pair of goals each for Fullerton, which was in search of its second-ever state banner, while Briana Portales and Tarsis Ledezma each scored one.
The Wolverines never trailed in the game but saw it knotted three times, including with just 45 seconds remaining in regulation when Conteras scored the second of her two goals in the period to deadlock the game, 6-6, and help send it to overtime. Neither team was able to score in the first of the two overtime periods but with two minutes to go, the Wolverines drew a penalty shot and Contreras converted the five-meter attempt.
Sierra looked to pull away early, getting two goals from Nuuhiwa for a 3-1 lead after the first quarter. Reisinger tallied her first goal early in the second to make it 4-1 and the Wolverines held Fullerton scoreless the rest of the half for a 4-1 lead at the break. Nuuhiwa's third goal, this one with 5:30 left in e third period, gave Sierra its biggest lead at 5-3. But the Hornets battled back, picking up scores from Santis, Portales and Contreras over the latter part of the third and early portion of the fourth to rally Fullerton to a 5-5 tie.
Jones made it 6-5 with just 54 seconds left in regulation only to see that score answered just nine seconds later by Conteras.
| Game 4 | ||||||||
| Sierra | 3 | 1 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | 7 |
| Fullerton | 1 | 0 | 2 | 3 | 0 | 0 | - | 6 |
| SCORING - SC: Rory Nuuhiwa 3, Shanti Reisinger 2, Stephanie Friesen 1, Maddison Potts 1, Morgan Jones 1. FC: Jessica Contreras 2, Bryanna Santis 2, Briana Portales 1, Tarsis Ledezma 1. | ||||||||
| SAVES - SC: NA. FC: NA | ||||||||