Vaqueros claim WSC title in first season

Rocio Fesembeck poured in five goals on Saturday and SBCC downed L.A. Valley 9-5 to claim the WSC women's water polo championship at Citrus College in Glendora.

Maddie Brooks had three crucial goals in the second half for the Vaqueros, who won the title in their first year of existence. The Vaqueros (16-12, 8-1 WSC) led 3-1 at halftime and outscored the Monarchs 3-1 in the final period.

Fesembeck, a freshman attacker from Santa Barbara High, leads the WSC with 96 goals in 27 games for a 3.6 average.

SBCC was the No. 2 seed and the Monarchs (18-7, 4-4) were seeded fourth. Santa Barbara earned an automatic bid to the Southern Cal Regional at Citrus and will play on Thursday or Friday, depending on where they're seeded for the 10-team tournament.

The Vaqueros battled foul trouble and had four players with two ejections in the fourth period. If any of them had received another ejection, SBCC would have been one player down for the rest of the game.

"We were up by one, they called timeout and we switched Rocio to an offensive position," noted coach Chuckie Roth. "She scored quickly and then Maddie made a goal to give us a three-goal cushion.

"Alex Brown played very well in goal. To hold them to five goals is a great accomplishment. Valley was only 3-for-14 in 6-on-5 power plays."

Abdiel "AJ" Gravatt had two steals for the Vaqueros.

"I'm so proud of these girls," said Roth. "This would have been the farthest thing from my mind at the beginning of the season (when they started 0-5). As the season progressed, we realized we were improving and this might be possible. We have grown up so much as people, players and as a team. Winning the WSC was just icing on the cake.

"I would like to give a lot of credit to our assistant coach Sierra Peltcher, who is an amazing person, coach and role model."

L.A. Valley ……….......  0    1    3    1  –  5
SBCC ……...….............  1    2    3    3  –  9
 Goals--SB: Fesembeck 5, Brooks 3, Lovett. Goalie saves--SB: Brown 8.

Final WSC Standings

1st - Santa Barbara (26 points) = Dual meet/6 pts. + Conference Tourney/20 pts.

2nd - LA Valley (20 points) = Dual meet/4 pts. + Conference Tourney/16 pts.

3rd - Cuesta (20 points) = 8 pts. + 12 pts.

4th - Ventura (13 points) = 5 pts. + 8 pts.

5th - Citrus (7 points) = 3 pts. + 4 pts.

6th - LA Pierce (6 points) = 2 pts. + 4 pts.

7th - Santa Monica (5 points) = 1 pt. + 4 pts.