By MIKE JORGENSON
SBCC SPORTS WRITER
CYPRESS — The Santa Barbara City College women’s water polo team got out to a 2-0 start Friday at the Battle of the Beach hosted by Cypress College.
The Vaqueros (20-3) defeated Grossmont 8-5 before downing Sierra 14-7.
The first victory came after a comeback. The Vaqueros fell behind 4-1 against Grossmont, but turned on the gas and shut the Griffins down the rest of the way in an 8-5 win to open the day.
“We fought ourselves back from a 1-4 deficit,” Head Coach Chuckie Roth said. “Regardless of what was happening in the pool, we came back. Jenna Olsen stepped up big, as did Ensley Letterman and Emily Clapham.”
Olsen finished with three goals for her fifth hat trick of the season. All three came during a third-quarter surge as the Vaqueros closed the game on a 7-1 run.
Allison Kay was responsible for setting up a lot of the scoring, tying her best mark of 2021 from the season opener with four assists.
Megan Ditlof went for a team high of five steals and two exclusions earned. Goalkeeper Chloe Mckay tallied nine saves.
There would be no need for a comeback in the game against Sierra. City College jumped out to a four-goal lead before three minutes had passed.
The Vaqueros took their largest lead of the game in the final minutes of the third, going up 12-2 on the third goal of the game for Megan Ditlof. She also added two assists and drew two exclusions.
“We created some great opportunities,” Roth said. “Lauren Tuxill and Angelina Adams both had great goals in this game. Eden Tal had five assists. Emily Clapham had five steals.”
Driver Eden Tal also finished with three goals. Her five assists along with Clapham’s five steals both set personal bests for the 2021 campaign.
Today the Vaqueros will look to build on their current 12-game streak with two more scheduled games against Orange Coast at 9:10 a.m. and Long Beach at 12:40 p.m.
Michael Jorgenson works in communications/media relations at Santa Barbara City College.
email: dmason@newspress.com
