Pirates set sights on women's water polo state championship this weekend

COSTA MESA -- It's never a bad idea to dream big and for the 2022 Orange Coast College women's water polo team, those big dreams are coming to life as the Pirates set out for a state title this weekend at the California Community College Athletic Association Water Polo State Championships.

"It's hard to ever 'expect' to make it this far, but from the beginning of the season, that was our goal," OCC head coach Dan Matulis said. "Last year, we missed making it to state by one game and we knew we were right there with a chance to do it. With the solid group of sophomores coming back and some outstanding freshman in the mix, all the pieces fit in nicely."

The Pirates (27-4), seeded No. 1 in Southern California will take on Northern California's No. 2 seed, San Joaquin Delta (21-11) on Friday at 1 p.m. at Southwestern College. The winner of that contest will play for the state championship against the winner of the other semifinals matchup between the north's No. 1 seed, West Valley College (26-4) and Santa Barbara City College (29-6). The state championship will be decided on Saturday at noon at SWC.

Winning has been commonplace for the Pirates over the past two seasons after finishing 19-6 in 2021. But in some cases, some wins mean a little bit more than others.

One such situation occurred back on Sept. 28 as the Pirates traveled to Riverside City College, a place that is NEVER an easy place to play and late in the fourth quarter, Coast trailed, 12-11 with under 2 minutes left in the contest. But the Pirates showed the ability to play at that next level and used goals by Natalia Stanard and Jillian Duwe and key stops from goalie Annabelle Sherman to slip past the Tigers, 13-12.

"I remember RCC was playing phenomenal at that time and we just didn't have our best performance that afternoon," Matulis said. "It was super hot up there and we just weren't at our best. But we managed to tie it up late, we drew an ejection to allow Natalia to score and we the team just decided to take care of it themselves. When a team can go into a tough place, not play their best and still come out with a win, that makes for a lot of confidence for the rest of the season."

Perhaps the biggest mental hurdle came on Nov. 5 at the Orange Empire Conference Championships when OCC took on a Fullerton College squad that had beaten them in all three previous matchups and pulled out an 11-10 win in EIGHT overtimes. That win helped pave the way for OCC to capture the Southern California Regional Championship the following weekend and a berth into this weekend's State Final Four.

"Fullerton is such an intimidating team and it took us some time to overcome that," Matulis said. "To watch our girls not only withstand what Fullerton was doing, but to have the physical and mental strength to win that game, I really think that will be huge for us heading into this weekend. We learned a lot about ourselves against Fullerton. After an eight-overtime win ... nothing scares them now."

From the players' perspective ... "The Fullerton match was definitely the most thrilling game we've had this season," Sherman said.  "We knew we had what it took to come out with the win and we definitely proved that in our performance. I think our competition against Fullerton was just another milestone. If it helped us in any way I would say it boosted the confidence we had in ourselves as individual athletes and now we have become an even stronger unit and this will definitely prepare us for our upcoming competitions."

"The Fullerton game at RCC for the conference title was long and intense," sophomore Destiny Hernandez said. "We new what we could do and had confident in ourselves and each other. We had a long week of intense practices leading up to that weekend to get us ready for games like this. We were all well conditioned and ready to just put it away. I believe this game did help us at regionals both in the water and seeding."

Now the Pirates return to the State Tournament for the first time since 2005 and will look for their second state championship (2001) in school history. 

"To win the State Championship title we will have to live up to our three strong words and those are Passionate, Powerful, and United," Sherman said. "We have the desire and we have the team ... all we have to do is put on our best athletic performances and use everything that our coaching staff has given to us. On my end, I need to be a strong last line of defense for my teammates. I will be communicating and ready to adapt to any challenge given by our opponent. I think the determining winning factor will be our attitudes and how we go into each one of our games. We need to show up strong and have the mindset that no matter what is thrown at us, we will overcome."

Leading the way offensively for the Pirates this year has been the 1-2-3 punch of sophomore Destiny Hernandez (67 goals), freshman Jillian Duwe (65 goals) and Stanard (61 goals). Sherman has been lights out for the Pirates in goal with 305 saves and her 60.9% save percentage is fourth-best in the state.

"I have been blessed with a group of amazing athletes and stellar coaches this water polo season," Sherman said. "We have grown so much since the first practice all together and now I can confidently say we have become family. It's definitely going to be a bittersweet feeling once we part and that's how much I adore this group. My expectations heading into this season have always been high. It was apparent to see what we were going to be capable of from the very start and we live up to that expectation each day we have been given the opportunity. All I knew was that on this team I had strong teammates with passion and drive and the best coaching staff I could've ask for."

San Joaquin Delta earned the LONG trip south to Chula Vista with three straight wins in the Big 8 Conference Tournament, topping American River (22-4), Sierra (18-8). In the Northern California Regionals, the Mustangs defeated Diablo Valley and Merced before falling to West Valley in the championship match.

"Delta is well coached and it's a team that has been there before," Matulis said. "They've got a strong 2-meter presence and we will need to play our best against this team, no doubt about it."

SJD's Sophia Schwartz has led the Mustangs' offense with 61 goals, while Hannah Wilson is close behind with 59. In goal, look for the duo of Delaney Brubaker (110 goals allowed, 121 saves) and Alana Lillie (99 GA, 116 saves) to try and keep the Pirates off of the scoreboard.

This will be OCC's first encounter with the Mustangs this year. Coast is 1-0 against West Valley (a 9-6 win at the Long Beach Mini Tournament on Oct. 15) and 1-1 against Santa Barbara (12-10 loss on Sept. 16 and a 10-9 win at the SoCal Regional Championship).

"We were in both the championship games at conference and at regionals, we weren't ranked first in either and we were the champions for both, so the pressure was definitely there, but we did over came it twice," Hernandez said. "We are confident in each other and know we can dominate at State!"