Two Straight 3C2A State Crowns for Long Beach Women's Water Polo
Release courtesy of Matt Folsom, CCCSIA, with some additions
The South Coast Conference's Long Beach City College made it back-to-back 3C2A State Women's Water Polo championships by defeating Riverside City, 21-6, on Saturday The dominant victory was the program's fifth in its history.
The win capped an essentially perfect year for the Vikings, who were 38-0 against California Community College opponents in 2025. Combine those wins with the 36 straight to conclude 2024 and the Vikings are on a 74-0 run.
The title is the 10th by a South Coast member in the sport going back to the 1996 crown accomplished by Rio Hondo College. It is Long Beach's 16th state title in women's sports as a member of the SCC.
As the defending champion, Long Beach relished having a target on its back all season and into Saturday's final, according to coach Chris Oeding.
"We always feel like everyone is playing their best game against us," Oeding said while drying off after the traditional post-game dip in the pool. "That adds a bit of pressure, but when you get to the playoffs and every game matters, a lot of the success depends on how you compose yourself under that pressure."
If there was pressure in the title game, the Vikings did, indeed, handle it with composure, right from the opening sprint.
LBCC (40-2 overall record) opened the game with back-to-back five-meter penalty conversions from Emily Cribari. They extended their lead to 5-0 with another goal from Cribari and two from Irene Pueyo Caballero. Javana Bogosavljevic scored two more to make it 6-1 heading to the second.
The second quarter was almost a mirror image of the first. Pueyo scored twice on power plays, and even-strength goals from Cribari, Jennifer Connelly and Alexis Velazquez gave the Vikings an 11-4 lead at the half. Riverside's 100-goal-scoring tandem of Yosra Elseifi and Angelina Beall each had two of RCC's four first-half goals.
The multi-player scoring and SCC Player of the Year Olivia "Lola" Birdsall's brick-wall goalkeeping were trademarks during the season and, especially, in the championship game.
"We were very balanced," Oeding said. "(Olivia) was very stingy and we helped her out as much as possible by giving her some breathing room. Mar (Bernal) and the others were a big part of that."
The Vikings outscored the Tigers 7-1 in the third quarter and 3-1 in the fourth for the final 21-6 score, setting off a spectacular in-pool celebration for the team and the coaching staff.
Pueyo Caballero led the Vikings with five goals, followed by three each from Bernal, Bogosavljevic and Velazquez. Cribari added two.
"This team got along really well together and played very selfless water polo," a dripping Oeding added. "There was that give and take of a team that knows they have each other's backs. That's what made them so special."
ALL-SOUTH COAST CONFERENCE WATER POLO TEAM
