2 SLO County girls water polo teams win CIF titles
Arroyo Grande High School’s dominance in girls water polo continues with another CIF championship, and Morro Bay celebrated a title win over the weekend as well.
The Eagles (28-5) beat Clovis East 15-9 on Saturday to earn a Division 1 CIF Central Section title for a second year in a row.
“Our goal was to win back-to-back CIF Central Section titles, and we were able to accomplish that,” said Eagles Coach Steven Allen. “We had to play a strong game. We’re really looking forward to regionals.”
Meanwhile, Morro Bay’s girls team (18-10) took the Division 2 section title by topping Garces Memorial of Bakersfield 16-10 on Saturday.
Both San Luis Obispo County teams were the No. 1-ranked schools in their respective CIF divisions.
Leading the way for Arroyo Grande, Tessa Pettit tallied four goals, two assists and two steals, and goalkeeper Bay Burnett recorded 13 saves.
“Bay had a really big game for us,” Allen said. “Any time a goalie has to make double-digit saves, that’s a lot and she played very well.”
The Eagles’ leading goal scorer on the season, junior Natalie Whitfield, was tasked with guarding Clovis East’s top player, Reece Helsel, a Cal water polo commit. Whitfield and Helsel each had three goals in the contest.
Ane Smith, a San Diego State University commit, and Berkeley Sinner, a who’s heading off to play at UC San Diego, each had three goals in the title contest. Pettit has committed to play at Villanova.
Arroyo Grande moves on to face Soquel at 5 p.m. at home Tuesday (Nov. 19) as the No. 3 seed in the state Division 1 Northern California bracket.
The Eagles are the No. 2 ranked team in the state and country, according to MaxPreps.com’s unofficial rankings.
The Eagles went undefeated in the Mountain League in the regular season, continuing a stretch of more than two decades of consecutive league wins.
No. 5 Morro Bay moves on to face No. 4 Leigh, of San Jose, in the Division III Northern California bracket. The road game was set for Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
This story was originally published November 19, 2024 at 5:20 AM.
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