No. 4 Orange Coast edges No. 2 Santa Barbara City, 11-10, at "Battle of the Beach" women's water polo tourney

CCCAA Women's Water Polo: Scoreboard l Standings

CYPRESS - The 2021 "Battle at the Beach" water polo tournament saw two of the top teams go at it on Saturday and in the end, it was the Orange Coast College Pirates pulling off the upset win over Santa Barbara, 11-10, at Cypress College.

The Pirates (16-3), winners of both matchup against the Vaqueros (21-4) this season, started off strong and led 5-2 late in the second quarter with five goals from five different Pirates -- Delaney Lewellyn, Journey Werner, Faith Cuevas, Destiny Hernandez and Leslie Casas.

Coast held a 9-7 lead early in the fourth quarter before the Vaqueros showed why they are at or near the top of the state polls with three straight goals to take a 10-9 lead with 4:41 remaining. Jenna Olsen led SBCC with six goals for the afternoon, but it was Megan Ditlof's tally that put the Vaqueros ahead.

The score stayed the same heading into the final minute of play before the Pirates found their offense at just the right time. With 29 seconds remaining, Rachel Sherman fed a pass to Casas, who buried her shot into the back of the net to tie the contest up at 10. 

SBCC took a timeout and looked to regain the lead, but the Pirate defense stopped the Vaqueros cold, giving Coast one final opportunity. Following at Pirate timeout, Lewellyn took the ball and fed Kendall Chrisman and the freshman made no mistake. She fired the perfect shot into the back of the net with just eight seconds left, putting the Pirates up, 11-10.

Santa Barbara tried for one final drive, but it was unsuccessful, giving Coast the comeback win.

Casas, Sherman and Lewellyn each finished with two goals, while Hernandez, Cuevas, Werner, Chrisman and Ashley Bellavia each scored once.

In goal, Annabelle Sherman was outstanding, holding the Vaqueros en check, while coming up with 10 big saves.

OCC will return to action on Wednesday at Golden West College, beginning at 4 p.m.

(Tony Altobelli, Orange Coast Athletics)