The Long Beach City College women's water polo team picked up three wins out of four games at the Mt. San Antonio College Classic and nearly knocked off defending state champion Fullerton College in the process. With their effort, Long Beach improved to 8-2 overall this season.
Sophomore Makenna Oberst (Los Alamitos HS) paced a balanced Viking attack. The Concordia University transfer led LBCC with 12 goals to go with seven steals and five assists over the weekend.
She helped the Vikings avenge an earlier loss as she scored a weekend-high five goals in the 10-7 victory over Orange Coast College to open tournament play on Friday.
LBCC came back later in the day to defeat one of the top teams in Northern California, American River College, by a final score of 9-6. Long Beach opened with a 4-1 first-quarter lead and never trailed. Oberst led once again with three goals and added three steals and two assists. Sophomore Cori Reynolds (Poly HS/Long Beach State) also had a big game with two goals, three assists, and two steals.
On Saturday, Long Beach extended its unbeaten streak to seven games with an 8-6 win over Santa Barbara City College. LBCC trailed 5-3 at halftime and went into the third quarter all tied up at 6-6. The Vikings closed out the fourth with a pair of goals and held the Vaqueros scoreless to pull out the win. Sophomore Caroline Nash (Millikan HS) and freshman Kennedy Conroy (Millikan HS) both scored three goals to lead the Vikings.
In their final match of the weekend, the Vikings gave top-ranked Fullerton its closest game of the season put ultimately fell by a final score of 12-6. Long Beach trailed by one goal, 6-5, heading into the fourth quarter but couldn't keep pace with the Hornets. Fullerton closed out the game with six goals to cruise to the win.
"We just ran out of gas," said interim head coach David Kasa. "We only had seven players and I could tell the girls put so much effort into the start of the game. They were just spent from a long, hot weekend. But I was really proud of how they played."
Nash led Long Beach with three goals against Fullerton while Oberst scored twice.
For the weekend, freshman Felicia DePalma (St. Joseph HS) posted 20 saves over four complete games in goal for the Vikings.
Long Beach returns to South Coast Conference action on Monday (Sept. 28) when the Vikings travel to Pasadena City College for a 3 p.m. game.