Women’s Water Polo: Long Beach finishes in second place at state championships

The Long Beach City College women's water polo team suffered a 9-7 loss to Riverside Community College in Saturday's championship final of the 2010 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Water Polo State Championships to earn the runner up trophy for the second year in a row. The tournament took place at American River College in Sacramento.

Long Beach closed the season with a 28-6 overall record. Under coaches Chris Oeding and Dave Kasa, LBCC made its 10th straight trip to the state championships.

Saturday's final was a nail bitter until Riverside pulled away in the second half.

LBCC took advantage of a first-possession 6 on 5 opportunities, with Christine Meier putting them on top 1-0. RCC's Jamie Clark answered back with two goals of her own in the first. At the end of one quarter, the game was tied three all.

The second quarter began with an early goal from RCC's Chelsea Harrod only to be followed
by a goal from the Vikings' Allison Zell. Going into the half, Riverside had the one-goal lead at 5-4.

On the first possession of the second half, Harrod put in her second goal off a deflection from LBCC to give the Tigers a two goal advantage. LBCC fought back with a couple of goals, but Riverside was too much of a force on offense with four goals in the third quarter.

Zell struck first in the fourth on a five-meter penalty shot, to make it a two-goal game. But Riverside held on to earn the 2010 women's water polo state championship title.

Meier and Zell led LBCC with two goals each. Lindsay Smith posted six saves in goal for the Vikings.

The Vikings earned their spot in the state championship final after winning a thriller in the semifinals on Friday. It took two overtimes and a sudden death overtime period for Long Beach to come away with the win over the North's top seed American River.

Long Beach came out firing with Meier scoring on LBCC's first possession to open up the state tournament. At the end of the first half, American River's Cailin Jope brought it to a one-goal game with a quarter-ending goal on a 6 on 5 player advantage for the Beavers.

American River's Mariah Livingston tied the game up at five to open the second half only for LBCC to take the lead again on the next possession by Sarah Agopian's second goal of the game. With the score tied at the start of the fourth quarter, Livingston gave ARC their first lead at 7-6 with a fast break goal. Zell then tied the game up with her fourth goal of the game to send the contest into overtime.

In the second OT period, Agopian scooped up a blocked shot by ARC's Nicolette Haflich to score and put LBCC up 8-7. On the next possession ARC's Marissa Renfro tied it back up. ARC had a fast break opportunity on its last possession in overtime only to be denied with a great blocked shot by Smith to put the game into sudden death. LBCC won the game in sudden death on a five-meter penalty shot by Zell.

Smith totaled 14 saves in the game. Zell led all with five goals and Agopian added three.

Agopian and Zell were both named to the All-State Tournament team.