Season Preview: SBCC Water Polo Begins Run for 8th Straight WSC Championship

Eden Tal (Ken Sciallo/Sevilla Photography)

September 8, 2022

SANTA BARBARA, CA – Since the program began in 2014, SBCC women's water polo has enjoyed a truly dominant run.

The Vaqueros have never failed to win the Western State Conference Championship, entering their 2022 campaign with 47 consecutive conference victories and a 57-2 all-time mark. They have advanced to the state championship game on three occasions, the first time coming during a 2016 in which they set the program's single-season wins record with a remarkable 33-2 record.

In 2017, they went 31-3 on the way to winning the state championship, and just last year, they earned another second-place state finish before falling by a single goal in a 6-5 nail-biter against West Valley.

The one constant during this run has been head coach Chuckie Roth, whose 161-43 (.810) record and numerous coach of the year honors at SBCC speak for themselves.

"We are looking forward to another season of working hard to become better people through the sport of water polo," Roth said. "We strive to do our best every day and play well. I think we have a pretty good team this year."

Despite having a year off from competitive play, the Vaqueros came back in 2021 to post their fifth consecutive 30-win season. With many of the team's top contributors returning this year, they will have the chance to build on what was already another top-notch campaign.

"We have some incredible leadership returning this year, who have done a great job of modeling our team culture," said Roth. "We are returning four All-Americans, including Eden Tal who was also SoCal Player of the Year. Emily Lopez is one of the greatest leaders to come through this program. Jenna Olson has found her confidence and has improved 100 percent. Chloe Mckay was arguably one of the top goalies in the state last year."

Tal consistently skewed box scores last year on her way to team-highs of 75 goals, 41 assists and 69 drawn exclusions. Olson was second on the team with 57 goals and 63 steals. Mckay's 302 saves shattered the previous program record of 234 (Zoe Johnson, 2019).

They will be part of a 17-player roster that includes nine freshmen.

"We have great newcomers as well who look up to our returners and are already buying in and becoming leaders themselves," Roth said. "We are very excited for the season and look forward to competing."

The Vaqueros are set to get things started with four games at the Central Coast Invitational this Fri-Sat, Sept. 9-10. Day one includes games against Merced (10 AM) and Modesto (2:30 PM), while Saturday pits SBCC against West Valley (12:25 PM) and Diablo Valley (4:45 PM).