South No. 2 Golden West upsets South No. 1 Long Beach 7-6 to win 2002 California Community Colleges Women's Water Polo Championship

by Chris Ruiz, LBCC Sports Information Director

Entering today's championship game, Long Beach City College had beaten Golden West College four of the five times the teams faced each other this year.

So Golden West head coach John Wright had a pretty good idea of what to expect from the Vikings and came up with the plan to stop their potent offense.

The Rustlers allowed just one Long Beach goal in the first half and held on after a late LBCC charge to win the 2002 California Community Colleges Commission on Athletics Women's Water Polo Championship by a score of 7-6.

Golden West opened the fourth quarter with two goals, giving the Rustlers a 7-4 advantage with a little more than four minutes in the game. LBCC's Jennifer Rueda (1:27) and Cia Cobb (0:29) scored the final two goals of the game but it wasn't enough to complete the comeback.

"Our girls were pumped and ready to play today," Wright said. "We came out with a different defensive plan today. Our goal was to slow down (Cassie) Zebisch and (Viviana) Morales. They had killed us in the past."

Zebisch, LBCC's top sophomore, was held scoreless in the game, while Morales tallied just one goal.

"When you play a team six times, you're bound to figure them out sooner or later," he added.

Melody Warren and Jennifer MacDonell both scored twice for the Rustlers, while tournament most valuable player Patty Cardenas added one goal.

Golden West ends its fifth championship season with a 32-4 record. Long Beach made it's best-ever finish at this year's tournament and closes 2002 with a 31-3 record.