Santa Barbara Water Polo Club’s 14U Girls Team takes a post-championship team photo. (Courtesy Photo)
Two Girls 14s teams from Santa Barbara Water Polo Club turned in quality results on successive weekends.
Led by Cathy Neushul, Connor Levoff, and Pam Tanase, Santa Barbara Water Polo Club’s 14U Girls team took home a silver medal at the State California Cup 14U championship competition held in Northern California two weekends ago.
The 14s defeated perennial power Socal Water Polo Club 11-7 in bracket play before winning by a wide margin over the Stanford and 680 Water Polo Clubs. Santa Barbara met Northwood of Irvine in the semifinal match winning 9-7 and moved on to the finals where they re-rounded with Socal. The hard fought championship saw the 14s rally from a two goal deficit with two minutes left to tie the match 9-9 in the fourth quarter. Santa Barbara then lost the shootout 6-7 taking home the silver medal.
Santa Barbara’s 14U girls include Sara Engmyer, Abigail Hendrix, Abbi Hill, Fiona Kuesis, Cassidy Miller, Kayla Peacock, Ella Prentice, Jewel Roemer, and Sabina Shackelford. Anna Cable was in goal.
Last weekend it was gold for Santa Barbara at the Commerce Cup.
After relaxed pool play wins over Commerce B and Newport Water Polo Club the 14s ran away from Socal Water Polo Club in the semi-final match, winning 8-3. Santa Barbara then defeated perennial powerhouse Commerce in a tightly contested 6-5 championship. Winning the Commerce Cup is an excellent measure of SBWPC’s training building up to the National Club Championships on 10-12 July and the 2015 National Junior Olympic Championships on 30 July through 2 August.
The 2015 Commerce Cup Champions, coached by Connor Levoff and Pam Tanase, include Lili-Rose Akin, Olivia Kistler, Fiona Kuesis, Fiona Sonni, Sara Owens, Kayla Peacock, Chloe Pena, and Grace Raisin. Sydney Klakeg went the distance in goal for Santa Babara.
