Vaqueros vanquish Vikings, eye three-peat

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.

Friday's action featured a rout between regional rivals and a hard-fought intersectional contest.

Game 1: 1S Long Beach over S3 Riverside 17-8

The 3-1 first quarter Viking lead grew to 7-2 at halftime and then ballooned to 14-6 after three quarters. The LBCC third was paced by three goals from Jennifer Connelly and two each from Lola Annear and Olivia Slavens. Three consecutive Viking tallies – one each from Connelly, Olivia Hurley and Elizabeth Jung – opened the final stanza and gave LBCC a 14-6 advantage.

Connelly's stat line read a game-high six goals, along with three assists and two steals. Annear was equally stat-worthy, finishing with four goals, one assist, four steals and a field block. Slavens had three goals and a pair of steals, while Hurley added two goals. Avery Reyes denied seven RCC shots to take the win between the pipes. The Tigers were led by Abigail Ruiz and Nicole Robertson, who both scored three times. Annabella Storar, Samantha Thomas and Aleira Valenzuela had one goal apiece for RCC.

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.