The562’s coverage of aquatic sports in Long Beach in 2025-26 is sponsored by Watersafe Swim School.
The562’s coverage of Millikan Athletics for the 2025-26 school year is sponsored by Brian Ramsey and TLD Law.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
Tuesday night’s girls’ water polo matchup at Millikan gave Wilson not only the opportunity to clinch another Moore League title, but to also get the whole team involved in the process. The Bruins finished with 13 different scorers en route to a 24-13 win, securing their ninth consecutive Moore League title and their 20th in the last 21 years.
“It was great. We were able to jump out big early and get a lot of girls through with opportunities around the board there,” said Wilson coach Barry O’Dea. “That was a really good team out in front of this and we’re tuning up for the Open Division playoffs and it was nice to see all of our girls out there.”
The Bruins had a big night from Francesca Garcia and Reece Haga, who each finished the night with a game-high four goals. In just the first quarter Haga had two goals, meanwhile Garcia had three goals midway through the quarter in an impressive 48-second span. Wilson opened up a 9-2 lead after the first quarter.
“Its always fun and exciting. With these games we like to try and practice new things,” Haga said. “It’s fun to get everyone in and playing, and it’s honestly my favorite thing when goals are spread across the whole team. It’s the best feeling when goals are coming from all around the pool and the chemistry is unmatched.”
One of O’Dea’s focuses for the night was the Bruins’ press defense, and Haga did a solid job getting steals and turning them into Wilson counterattacks.
“We’ve been focusing more on that press rather than the zone defense so getting confidence in that press is really important,” she said. “It’s just about seeing and knowing that we can be physical and stay in the press to get more steals and carry on into our offense.”
The Bruins also had three goals from Grace Walker, plus two goals each from Bella Salley-Najjarian, Abigail Billish, and goalkeeper Teagan Shandrew-Pearsall. Wilson also got goals from Lucy Forrester, Maddy Taylor, Emmylou Kennedy, Eden Dunn, Kate Tunnicliff, Layla Salley-Najjarian, and Elizabeth Roel.
For Millikan, the Rams were led by Makenna Rosenberg, who matched the game-high of four goals. Sophia Newland, Kyley Seeds and Madelyn Huber each had a pair of goals for Millikan while Grace Darby, Shae Parkhill and Elena Nygaard finished with goals.
After the game, O’Dea applauded the Rams as they wrap up another solid regular season behind third-head coach Mike Carrillo.
“He’s doing a really good job with that group and they’ve been getting a lot better,” O’Dea said. “The majority of that team plays during the offseason with my girls, and both teams have been benefiting from that. I think you’re going to see things between us get closer and closer in the next few years because Mike’s doing a really good job over there. It’s going to be a really fun league as we keep getting more competitive.
Wilson will be at the Newport Invite this weekend before finishing out its schedule with Cabrillo next week, while Millikan will finish out its league slate with Lakewood in a week.
