Long Beach City goes wire-to-wire in 2025 to claim back-to-back 3C2A Women's Water Polo Championships

Tournament Central l Photos

MERCED - Long Beach City blasted Riverside City 21-6 Saturday to earn its second consecutive 3C2A women's water polo state championship. The dominant victory was the program's fifth (2003-04, 2006, 2024-25) and the fourth straight SoCal title.

The win capped an essentially perfect year for the Vikings, who were 38-0 against 3C2A opponents in 2025. Combine those wins with the 36 straight to conclude 2024 and the Vikings are on a 74-0 run.

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 Saturday, the Vikings did, indeed, handle it with composure, right from the opening sprint.

LBCC (40-2) 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 Olivia 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.

Riverside's Elseifi and Beall closed out their spectacular RCC careers with three goals apiece. 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."  

Third place game: (S2) Santa Barbara over (S3) Orange Coast 14-13 in OT
Santa Barbara played its second overtime contest in two days, but this time came out on top. The Vaqueros captured an entertaining 3^rd place game 14-13 over Orange Coast.

OCC (28-11) started out hot, as Emma Willis converted a pair of five-meter penalty shots. Finley Munchoff added two more to extend the Pirate lead to 5-2 after one. Katie Strohl had both Vaquero goals.  

Santa Barbara (34-8) climbed back in on goals from Avery Jensen, Sophie McGehee and Pamela Hernandez. The Pirates answered with scores from Munchoff and Hayden Clark to make it 7-5, OCC, at the half.

The teams traded goals in a third quarter that ended with Coast on top 10-8.

With 4:49 left in the game, Santa Barbara had come all the way back, tying it up at 11-11 on a Jensen goal. Strohl and Jensen each scored twice for the Vaqueros in the period. It was 12-12 at the end of regulation, as OCC's Elizabeth Liskey and SBCC's Isabella Stolpp traded tallies.

Jensen buried the only goal of the first OT and then added another in the second. OCC's Ariah Martinez scored with :12 left to account for the final 14-13 score.

Jensen and Strohl each scored five times to lead the Vaqueros, while Sophie McGehee added a pair. The Pirates were paced by four from Munchoff, three from Willis and two each from Martinez and Brooke Kaltenbach.

(Matt Folsom, CCCSIA)