A first half shutout by the Vikings propelled the LBCC women’s water polo team to a commanding 10-4 victory against Mt. San Antonio College on Oct. 28.
In the first half, LBCC’s defense looked strong while Mt. SAC’s offense struggled as the Vikings took a 7-0 lead.
Leading the Vikings offense throughout the half was Alexis Velazquez, who scored three goals.
Head coach for Mt. SAC Chris Jackson seemed confused about why his offense got out to such a slow start.
“The second half was way better overall, and we did have opportunities in that first half, but we couldn’t put them away, and going scorerless in the first half was rough. Second half though, they came out and competed, so I was very proud about that,” said Jackson.
Despite LBCC’s offense slowing down at the start of the second half, the Vikings defense picked up right where they left off..
Jackson was proud of Mt. San Antonio players for not giving up and continuing to fight even when they struggled.
“All we needed was to have that offense throughout the first half and then the game would be different, which would have made Long Beach less relaxed, and when we scored one I felt proud because we broke the seal and once it was broken, that’s when they realized and settled in to compete,” Jackson said.
Mt. SAC player Alexis Densky noted the difficulties that come with playing a team that is impressive on both offense and defense like LBCC.
“As for the fourth quarter offense we had, I felt proud because it was a hard game. LBCC’s defense held us, but I’m proud of my team for fighting,” Densky said.
Viking women’s water polo goalkeeper Olivia Birdsall deflects the ball preventing it from bouncing back to the players during their match against Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday. Long Beach would won the match 10-4, winning their 7th game in a row. (Steve Gonzalez)
LBCC’s head coach, Chris Oding, noted the areas in which he still feels the team needs to improve.
“I thought that we were making some good decisions but also having trouble executing them. Mt. SAC is a very talented team, and they did give us some struggle defensively, which made our counterattack get taken away because that is our strong point, but they played a solid game,” said Oding.
Oding was proud of the team and reflected on how the team’s defense started out great and seemed to dwindle as their lead grew, giving the opponents a slight opening.
“I think it was a good job, but they did start to relax a little bit, which made Mt. SAC make some adjustments, and they took advantage of a couple of mistakes we did. Though being able to keep the other team to under five goals makes you proud as a head coach, and we try to accomplish this every game,” said Oding.
Velazquez was asked about her overall performance in the game and her team’s performance.
“I felt good overall on my performance, and there was a lot more work that, as a team, we did good with being able to work together on making the right decisions, but yeah, we won, but I do think we could have executed a lot better,” Velazquez said.
When asked about the defense, Velazquez said, “ I think our defense was good in the first half, but I think during the second half we started to make mistakes.”
Velazquez, despite the dominant win, also saw areas in which the team still needs to improve if they are going to be successful in the playoffs.
“I think we just need to go in with full energy for all of the games and not just the games we know will be difficult, like the teams of Riverside and Santa Barbara. We have to keep the same energy when we play all those teams that are in our conference,” Velazquez said.
LBCC women’s water polo’s next event is the SCC Championship on Nov. 5 at El Camino College, and the time is TBA.
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