Dos Pueblos, Santa Barbara High Face Off
Girls Water Polo Payoffs Moved to SB
Dos Pueblos and Santa Barbara High Schools are the last two teams floating in the CIF Division II girls’ water polo playoffs, and they will meet in the championship game at 11 a.m. Saturday, February 23 at the SBHS pool.
The site of the game was moved from Orange County after both local teams won their semifinal matches Wednesday at the Wollert Aquatics Center in Irvine.
Dos Pueblos (27-3), seeded No. 1, came from behind to edge out Laguna Beach (9-8), after Santa Barbara (20-11) stunned Villa Park (10-6).
The Dons’ victory was a 12-goal turnaround from their 14-6 loss to Villa Park three weeks earlier at the Southern California Championships.
That reversal of fortunes undoubtedly caught the attention of Dos Pueblos. The Chargers mastered the Dons twice during the regular season by scores of 9-4 and 8-5, ending Santa Barbara’s streak of 11 consecutive Channel League titles.
Santa Barbara coach Mark Walsh is in familiar territory. Saturday’s match will be his tenth girls CIF final in 11 years. His teams have won eight championships. Dos Pueblos is making its first appearance in the title game.
