Santa Barbara Water Polo Club’s 14s
Santa Barbara Water Polo Club’s 14U and 12U Girls teams won Bronze Medals at last weekend’s 21st Annual San Diego County Cup, the nation’s largest 8th-grade-and-under water polo tournament.
Santa Barbara Water Polo Club’s 12s
Led by Cathy Neushul and Connor Levoff, the 14U girls were seeded first as 2013 defending champions. After winning their bracket and advancing to the top four, a 7-6 sudden death loss to Socal Water Polo Club in the semifinals knocked the 14s into the Bronze Medal Game with Diablo Water Polo Club of Northern California.
Santa Barbara crushed Diablo in the first half, leading 7-2, and then cruised to a 10-4 victory, easily capturing third place. The 14U Bronze Medalists included Lili Rose Akin, Abbi Hill, Olivia Kistler, Ryann Neushul, Thea Neushul, Chloe Pena, Grace Raisin, Georgia Ransone, Alex Szymczak, and Josie Thorpe. Sophia Trumbull had an excellent tournament in goal.
In 2013 the Santa Barbara 12U girls squad finished second to United Water Polo Club. This year the two clubs met in the semifinals where the 12U squad, led by Patrick Reynolds, fell in sudden death overtime. The back and forth duel with United knocked the 12 girls into a tough third-place match with perennial power Commerce Water Polo Club. Playing their first match in the larger, championship pool, the 12’s dominated Commerce. The 12U Bronze Medalists included Shannon Connelly, Abigail Hendrix, Claire Kronen, Hannah Meyer, Cassidy Miller, Ella Prentice, and Sabina Shackelford. Anna Cable had an outstanding tournament in goal. Sabina Shackelford was named to the All-Tournament Team.
