Women’s Water Polo: Vikings go 3-1 to open season at Cypress Charger Invitational

The Long Beach City College women's water polo team kicked off the 2015 season with an impressive start, picking up three wins in four chances at the Cypress Charger Invitational.

Sophomore Makenna Oberst (Los Alamitos HS, pictured) had a big weekend for the Vikings. The Concordia University-Irvine bounce back totaled 15 goals, 12 assists, and seven steals over four contests. Sophomore Ashley Diaz (Esperanza HS) also played well, posting 12 goals, 11 assists, and six steals. In her collegiate debut, freshman goalie Felicia DePalma totaled 25 saves over four games.

LBCC opened up tournament play on Friday with an 11-7 win over host Cypress. Oberst led the Vikings with four goals and three assists with DePalma posting six saves.

Long Beach returned to the pool later in the day and on short rest and suffered a narrow 11-9 loss to Orange Coast College. Once again, Oberst led with four goals while sophomore Cori Reynolds (Poly HS/Long Beach State) chipped in with three goals, two assists, and four steals.

The Vikings bounced back with a pair of wins on Saturday to close out the tourney. LBCC beat Ventura College by a final score of 11-7. Oberst poured in five goals with Diaz adding four goals in the victory. Long Beach faced host Cypress a second time with nearly the same result. LBCC picked up an 11-8 win, getting a game-high four goals from Diaz while DePalma had seven saves.

Long Beach, now 3-1, returns to action on September 16 at 3 p.m. when the Vikings open South Coast Conference play at home against East Los Angeles College.