Both the Long Beach City College women’s and men’s water polo teams picked up opening day wins today at the 2009 California Community College Athletic Association (CCCAA) Water Polo State Championships at Golden West College in Huntington Beach.
The No. 2 South-seeded Long Beach women came from behind to defeat Sierra College (No. 1 North) by a final score of 5-3, while the LBCC men (No. 2 South) cruised to a 9-3 win over Santa Rosa Junior College (No. 3 North).
In the women’s contest, sophomore Kimmy Morrison scored a pair of fourth-quarter goals to lead the Vikings to the 5-3 comeback win over Sierra.
Sierra jumped out to a 2-0 lead midway through the second quarter before LBCC came alive.
The Vikings finally tied up the game midway in the third quarter thanks to a goal from sophomore Kimberly Briggs before freshman Alexandria Blank’s goal with 1:31 to go in the third gave LBCC its first lead at 3-2.
After a late third-quarter Sierra goal to tie it, the Vikings took control in the fourth.
With five minutes left in the game, Briggs stole the ball from a Sierra player, then sent a long pass down the pool to a streaking Morrison. Morrison placed her shot past Sierra goalie Tori Cliff for the eventual game-winner.
She added an insurance goal with 2:03 to go and sophomore goalie Chelsea Datt made it stand with four saves over the final quarter for the win.
Datt totaled seven saves for LBCC. Briggs led the Vikings with five steals.
Long Beach (26-7) will face No. 3 North seed Modesto Junior College on Friday at 10:30 am in their Day 2 contest. A win would place the LBCC women in the championship final on Saturday at 1:30 pm.
The Long Beach men had a much easier time in their 9-3 win over Santa Rosa.
The Vikings held a narrow 4-3 halftime lead before responding with five unanswered goals to take a commanding 8-3 advantage late in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Dusan Ivanovski led the Vikings with three goals. Sophomore Daniel Lunga and freshman Brian Haag scored twice while freshmanJanko Jovanovic chipped in with a goal.
Sophomore goalie Nikita Nemykin posted two saves in the first half, while sophomore Duran Reid had eight second-half saves.
Long Beach (23-7) will face No. 1 North seed West Valley College on Friday at 1:30 pm in their Day 2 contest. A win would place the LBCC men in the championship final on Saturday at 12 pm.
Reports From LBCC’s Chris Ruiz