Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo captures Gold in 14u Girls Platinum Division at Junior Olympics

PALO ALTO, Calif. - Revenge was sweet and it was golden!

Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo jumped out to a fast start and never trailed as the 14u girls defeated Newport Beach WPC 9-7 to capture Gold in the Platinum Division at the USA Water Polo Junior Olympics at Stanford University.

SB 805 14u had lost to Newport Beach earlier in the tournament 5-4 and in the last few finals of other tournaments.

But this time SB 805 head coach Cathy Neushul had her team ready to go from the start.

Talia Marshall scored two early goals, McKenna Stuart added another and star goalkeeper Reagan Mack scored from beyond mid-pool in the closing seconds of the first quarter as SB 805 led 4-0.

They led 6-3 at halftime as Jules Horton scored a long-distance goal.

Newport Beach got within 7-5 in the fourth quarter but SB 805 closed it out with goals by Marshall and Stuart. Marshall had a team-high 3 goals.

After the final whistle Neushul and the team did a victory plunge to celebrate the championship.

Mack was named the Most Valuable Player after making several point blank saves and of course scoring a highlight-reel goal.

Here are complete Santa Barbara 805 Water Polo results from Session Two of JO's.

10A Coed Platinum Division - 11th Place

10B Coed Gold Division - 19th Place

12A Girls Platinum Division - 9th Place

12B Girls Platinum Division - 18th Place

14A Girls Platinum Division - Ist Place

14B Girls Gold Division - 9th Place

16A Girls Platinum Division - 2nd Place

16B Girls Platinum Division - 10th Place

16C Girls Bronze Division - 12th Place

18A Girls Platinum Division - 6th Place

18B Girls Gold Division - 2nd Place