By In a pivotal Big West showdown for playoff seeding, No. 6 Long Beach State women’s water polo’s (15-10) pair of attackers senior Martina Cardona and junior Elisa Portillo combined for 14 points in a 15-12 victory over No. 7 University of California, Irvine in the regular season finale at the Anteater Aquatics Complex on Thursday.
“This is what we’ve been preparing for, to be ready to peak and be in that zone for [the Big West tournament],” LBSU head coach Shana Welch said. “We know it’s always going to be competitive against them, but we were ready.”
The fate of the No. 2 seed in the Big West Women’s Water Polo Championship bracket hung in the balance on Thursday as The Beach and Anteaters entered the contest with identical conference records.
In LBSU’s most recent matchup with UCI, Portillo had a season-high seven goals in a 14-13 overtime win and continued her dominance over the UCI in this matchup with three goals and four assists. Cardona matched her statline.
“Their [Cardona and Portillo] consistency is key, they showed up for their team and when we show up and complement each other, this is the result,” Welch said.
In front of a raucous UCI crowd with many families celebrating senior night, senior LBSU defender Jamie Oberman temporarily silenced the home crowd, beating sophomore UCI goalkeeper Rachel Kirchner for a score on the night’s first possession.
The Beach finished the first quarter with a narrow 3-2 lead thanks to two of Cardona’s four assists coming in the period, setting up the potent Beach offensive attack early.
After a rare save by Kirchner, her pass up the pool was stolen by Cardona whose ensuing attack whizzed right by Kirchner’s head to extend The Beach’s lead to 5-2.
With Portillo scoring two early goals, the Anteaters’ attempts to defend her with more physicality resulted in a penalty shot for freshman defender Rita Gurri Capel, who cashed in to add to The Beach’s lead after Portillo’s arm was yanked back on an attempted shot.
“It gives me a lot of confidence, but it also gives the team confidence to see that we can win big games,” Portillo said.
The Beach took an 8-2 lead into halftime and continued to pour it on in the third as they entered the final period with a 12-5 lead.
The Anteaters caught fire in the fourth with a 7-3 run, but it was ultimately not enough to overcome the hole they dug themselves in early, as The Beach went on to secure the victory.
Following the victory, LBSU enters the conference championship tournament as the No. 2 seed, where they will await No. 7 seed California State University, Northridge in the quarterfinals before a potential rematch with the No. 3 seed UCI in the next round.
“We hope to match up with them in the Big West semis … we really like playing them,” Portillo said.
