“This is our time to shine.”
Santa Barbara High water polo goalie Maddie Trabucco made that fitting comment after the Dons overwhelmed Irvine 13-4 on a glorious Saturday afternoon to earn a trip to the CIF Division 1 semifinals.
For the seniors, it will be their first time in the Final Four after falling short in the quarterfinals the last three years.
In those previous quarterfinal appearances, the Dons played on the road. As the No. 1 seed in this season’s playoffs, they avoided a long trip to Orange County and played in their own pool.
“It was nice having a quarterfinal game in our pool because we?ve gone down to OC every single time,” said Maddie Trabucco. “It was nice to feel at home. We were in our groove and we?re really playing well.”
Santa Barbara (25-4) will make the drive to the OC on Wednesday to play Newport Beach in one semifinal game at the Woollett Aquatics Center in Irvine. Foothill and Corona del Mar meet in the other semifinal. The championship game is Saturday.
“It means everything. We?ve been working toward this for the entire season,” Trabucco said. “I?ve never made it to the semifinals of CIF, so just to get past this game was a huge deal for us. It was exciting.”
Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh said advancing to the semifinals brings a sense of accomplishment. Walsh has guided the Dons to eight CIF girls titles, the last one coming in 2006.
“As a team, we really hadn?t accomplished anything in the three years they?ve been here,” he said of the seniors. “We put a lot on them to take ownership of the season. Say, ?Hey, we want to establish ourselves and prove ourselves.? I think they did that by winning a couple of tournaments, which we hadn?t done in a long time. Obviously, winning league was big and being ranked No. 1 at the start of CiF was huge. It enabled us to have an easier quarterfinal game than if we had been seeded lower.”
Santa Barbara’s seniors took full advantage of playing their last game at home. Kelsey O’Brien pumped in three goals, Rocio Fesembeck scored twice and Sophie Trabucco added a goal to give the Dons a 6-0 lead in the first period.
“It was great they came and had a good first quarter. That was important,” said Walsh.
“We really wanted to come out hard and get up fast, and be able to finish strong,” said O’Brien.
In the second period, Erin McGeoy scored on a penalty shot and fired an impressive skip shot inside the near post, and Betsy Hendrix finished a long pass from O’Brien to make it 9-0.
Jessie Brummett scored the 10th goal in the third before Rachel Cohen got Irvine on the scoreboard at the 6:23 mark of the period.
Irvine finished the season at 15-13.
Santa Barbara was so dominant in the game that Walsh pulled Maddie Trabucco and played O’Brien in the goal for the third period and Fesembeck in the fourth. There also was a sequence when the Dons played without a goalie due to an ejection. Irvine got off a shot, but Brummett was in the right place to block it.
“It was obviously big to have a game at home and have a wonderful game,” Walsh said of Saturday’s performance. “We?re excited to make the semis and win one more and give ourselves a chance.”
Santa Barbara has beaten the three other teams in the semifinals.
Asked what it’s going to take to win it all, Trabucco said: “I think it’s definitely just playing as a team and playing our game, and not playing down to anyone; just going out there and knowing we can do it.
“I really think this is our time. This is our time to shine.”
