(Most recent games on top. Scroll down for earlier games)
GAME 4: (1N) Sierra 7, (1S) Fullerton 6 (Championship)
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 |
GAME 3: (2N) San Joaquin Delta 8, (2S) Santa Barbara City 7 (Third-Place)
Jessica Diaz tossed a perfect lob from seven meters with two seconds left on Saturday morning to lift San Joaquin Delta to an 8-7 win over SBCC in the third-place game of the CCCAA Women's Water Polo State Championships at West Valley College in Saratoga.
The Vaqueros (30-5) lost their third straight game and finished fourth in the state, one year after capturing their first title. The Mustangs (21-11) avenged a loss to the Vaqueros in last year's state semifinals and two losses earlier this year.
With time running out, Leti Mosqueda passed to Diaz on the left side. Diaz threw a high-arching lob that went over the head of goalie Nicole Poulos and into the lower right corner. The Vaqueros called timeout and got a good look at a game-tying goal as Poulos threw a long pass to Tori Bray and she slapped it off the crossbar as time expired.
Fraser finished as the top scorer in the state and set school records for single-season scoring (123 goals) and career scoring (209). She also led the Vaqueros in assists with 37.
Kemi Dijkstra gave the Vaqueros a 5-4 lead on a power-play goal with 1:09 left in the third period. Santa Barbara fell behind 6-5, then tied it at 6-all on a goal by Alyssa Russell-Sadoff. Russell-Sadoff had a goal, two assists and three steals. Diaz put the Mustangs up 7-6 on a 5-meter penalty shot with 3:40 to go.
Once again, the Vaqueros tied things up, 7-7, when Shimizu threw a cross-pool pass to Bray for a 6-on-5 goal with 2:16 remaining.
Mustang goalie Tahlia Pou made two huge stops on Vaquero shots by Dijkstra (1:41 to go) and Hana Wigzell (1:02).
Melisa Walk played the first two quarters in goal for the Vaqueros, recording five saves. Poulos (20-5) played the second half and had four saves.
(Dave Loveton, Santa Barbara City College Athletics)
Game 3 (Third Place) | ||||||||
Santa Barbara City | 1 | 1 | 3 | 2 | - | 7 | ||
San Joaquin Delta | 0 | 2 | 3 | 3 | - | 8 | ||
SCORING - SBCC: Lilly Riley 1, Kemi Djikstra 1, Emma Fraser 1, Meagan McKillican, Kelee Shimizu 1, Alyssa Russell-Sadoff 1, Tori Bray 1. SJD: Maddie Wittkowske 3, Jessica Diaz 3, Leti Mosqueda 1, Taylor Campbell 1, | ||||||||
SAVES - SBCC: NA. SJD: NA |
GAME 2: (1S) Fullerton 13, (2N) San Joaquin Delta 12 (OT)
Briana Portales scored a team-high four goals, including the eventual clincher during the second overtime period on Friday, as Fullerton College put itself in line for its second state championship in the past five season after posting an exciting 13-12 overtime win over San Joaquin Delta College during the second semifinal at the 2018 CCCAA Women's Water Polo Championship at West Valley College.
Fullerton's (29-2) win sends it against Sierra College (28-2-2) in Saturday's championship game, which will be broadcast live by SoCal College Sports on www.cccaasports.org. Delta (21-11) will face Santa Barbara City College (30-4) ford third place on Saturday.
The teams battled through four exciting quarters but couldn't decide a winner and headed to extra time tied, 11-11. However, Bryanna Santis scored the second of her two goals during the first overtime period while Portales added the eventual game-winner with 2:09 left in the second. Delta, though, wasn't ready to go away as Jessica Diaz, who led all scorers with five goals, put one in the back of the net with 1:20 to go. The Hornets, though, were able to hold off the Mustangs the rest of the way to move to the title game.
Abigaul Nunez and Portales each scored twice in the first quarter as Fullerton race to a 4-1 lead but a four-goal surge by Delta in the second, two of them from Diaz, helped make the deficit just 6-5 for the Mustangs at halftime. No more than a goal separated the teams throughout the second half as they went into the fourth tied, 10-10, setting up the exciting finish.
Fullerton last won a CCCAA title in 2014 while Sierra is not only looking for its first but also the first by a team from Northern California.
Game 2 | ||||||||
Fullerton | 4 | 2 | 4 | 1 | 1 | 1 | - | 13 |
San Joaquin Delta | 1 | 4 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 1 | - | 12 |
SCORING - FC: Briana Portales 4, Abigaul Nunez 3, Alexandra Lopez 2, Bryanna Santis 2, Tarsis Ledezma 1, Diana Hatter 1. SJD: Jessica Diaz 5, Leti Mosqueda 3, Natalee Lamie 2, Maddie Wittkowske 2, | ||||||||
SAVES - FC: NA. SJD: NA |
GAME 1: (1N) Sierra 10, (2S) Santa Barbara City 6
Sierra College held defending state champion Santa Barbara City College without a goal during the second quarter while turning a 3-2 deficit into a 5-3 halftime lead, on its way to a 10-6 win over the Vaqueros in a semifinal game at the 2018 CCCAA Women's Water Polo Championship at West Valley College on Friday morning.
The Wolverines (28-2-2) advance to Saturday's championship for the second consecutive year where they'll attempt to be the first school from Northern California to win a women's water polo state championship. Sierra will face the winner of the Fullerton-San Joaquin Delta matchup scheduled for late Friday.
Three different Vaqueros scored in the first quarter, staking them to a 3-2 lead. However, Stephanie Friesen, Grace O'Callaghan and Julia Hemphill scored goals over a 3-1/2-minute span of the second period to give Sierra a lead it would not relinquish. Santa Barbara got to within a goal with 3:11 left in the third on Emma Fraser's score but that would be as close it would get the rest of the way as the Wolverines scored back-to-back goals to end the quarter for a 7-4 lead.
O'Callaghan scored three goals to lead Sierra while Shanta Reisinger had two. Fraser tallied a pair of scores to pace Santa Barbara.
Game 1 | ||||||
Sierra | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3 | - | 10 |
Santa Barbara City | 3 | 0 | 1 | 2 | - | 6 |
SCORING - SC: Grace O'Callaghan 3,Shanti Reisinger 2, Hannah Perry 1, Julia Hemphill 1, Stephanie Friesen 1, Mackenzie Crouch 1. SBCC: Emma Fraser 2, Alyssa Russell-Sadoff 1, Kemi Dijkstra 1, Meagan McKillican 1, Sarah Parson 1. | ||||||
SAVES - SC: Danielle Brown 25. SBCC: Nicole Poulos 22. |