Owls Lose One and Win One in Battle of the Beach Opener

Cypress, CA - At arguably the toughest water polo tournament in Southern California, the Citrus College Women's Water Polo team lost one and won one on the first day of competition. The Owls opened up with Long Beach City College, falling 13-9, before rallying with a 10-7 victory over conference foe Los Angeles Valley College in the final game of the day. 

 In the opener against the Vikings, Citrus couldn't have really asked for a better start. Freshmen Hunter Olivier and Alyssa Gonzales gave the Owls a 2-0 lead after scoring on two of their first three possessions. The offense came to a grinding halt for the rest of the quarter though, while Long Beach patiently tied things up with a score midway through and towards the end to send the game into the second quarter tied up at two scores each. 

Citrus would lurch back in front with a score by freshman Chloe Barrocas with 7:34 left in the second. That's when things went South, Long Beach would go on to score five of the next six goals, with three of those five coming on 6-on-5 opportunities to jump out to a 7-4 halftime lead. The Vikings would come out the break and score the quarter's first goal, but pair of strikes by Olivier along with scores by freshmen Angela Smith and Lindsay Powell would make it close, with the Owls trailing 8-9 with 1:46 to go in the third. 

The Vikings once again put a vice grip on the Owls offense, and used a 4-0 to add separation between themselves and Citrus. Only a goal by Olivier with 49 seconds left with break up the four straight goals as Citrus fell 13-9. Olivier would end up with four of Citrus' nine scores. Gonzalez and Barrcoas would each score once, along with each handing out a pair of assists. Gonzalez added four steals for Citrus and Barrocas had five swipes. 

After the disheartening opening loss, the Owls had to buck up and prepare to take on the Monarchs. Citrus started out a little slow, getting just one score in the first quarter, a goal by Gonzalez, and two more in the second (Powell and Barrocas) to take a slim 3-2 lead into halftime. In the third, LA Valley would take their first and only lead when they came out of the break and scored the first two goals to make it 4-3. The Owls would use a pair of scores by sophomore Gabriella Galbraith to jump back out in front, but the Monarchs would keep it a one goal game headed into the final quarter. 

In the fourth, Citrus finally managed to put the game away, holding LA Valley to an early score, and getting goals by Powell and Gonzalez over the final 2:05 to push their lead to a comfortable three goals. Powell would lead all Owl scorers in the game, with four goals. Barrocas would add a goal, another assist, three steals, and three exclusions drawn.

With the loss and the win, Citrus moves to 17-9 on the year. The Owls will be back in action on Saturday morning when they take on local rival Mt. San Antonio College in the first of two guaranteed contests.