After cruising past San Joaquin Delta 9-3 in an early morning women's water polo tilt, SBCC ran into a strong Riverside squad on Saturday and suffered its first loss of the season, 11-9, at the Riverside Tournament.
The Vaqueros fell to 10-1 and the Tigers improved to 8-1. Riverside was the 2016 State champion and the Vaqueros won the title in 2017.
Taylor Brooks scored four goals against Delta and former Santa Ynez High star Annie Ackert had three. Hana Wigzell contributed a goal, three assists and six steals while Allison Kay had two assists and three drawn ejections.
Zoe Johnson turned away 13 shots for the second straight game and added 10 more saves in the Riverside contest. Eight players scored against the Tigers, led by Ackert's two goals.
"Zoe had a really good day in goal and I'm proud of her growth," said SBCC coach Chuckie Roth. "Waverly Golden improved dramatically from last weekend. She had a clutch goal at the end of the third period against Riverside. Madison Wayman and Taylor Brooks played their hearts out at the center position in what became a very physical game."
Santa Barbara trailed at halftime, 5-4, for the first time this year. Riverside stretched the advantage to 10-6 in the third before Ackert scored at 0:25 seconds and Golden added a buzzer-beater to cut the deficit to two.
Wigzell found the net at 5:33 of the fourth period to pull the Vaqueros within one, 10-9.
"This was the most physical game we've played all year and it will make us better," added Roth. "Hana Wigzell played some super heads-up defense and created two great opportunities in the fourth quarter.
"This week (playing 6 games in 3 days) was a big confidence booster for Lanie Acevedo, who scored a 6-on-5 goal against Riverside. It was a great weekend of learning."
SBCC will make its home debut on Wednesday when it battles Ventura in a WSC match at Santa Barbara High, starting at 5:20 p.m.
