The Long Beach City College Women’s Water Polo team closed out their 2025 season with one of the most dominant performances by any team at any level in city history.
In the CCCAA State Water Polo Tournament, the Vikings outscored their opponents with a combined score of 59-17 through three victories. In each of these wins, LBCC beat their opponents by at least 12 goals. They earned back-to-back state titles after capping off their historic season with a 21-6 championship win over Riverside.
This title was just a taste of LBCC’s dominance. The Vikings went 38-0 against other Junior College and had an impressive 2-2 record against four-year NCAA schools in non-official scrimmages. In this 2-2 record, LBCC beat Azusa Pacific 16-11 and Concordia 15-14, only falling in close margins to Cal State Northridge 12-10 and Biola 11-10.
Their 38-0 run goes all the way back to their third game of last year when the Vikings lost to Riverside 8-7 on Sept. 7, 2024. Since then, they’ve won their last 74 games against Junior College opponents, including their two dominant state titles.
“In the 25 plus years I’ve been at City College, we’ve never had an undefeated season,” Head Coach Chris Oeding said.
The Vikings had a stacked roster that led them through the season. Defensively, freshman goalie Olivia Birdsall started 18 games and had 123 saves. On the offensive side, Spain native Mar Bernal led the team with 66 goals, followed by Irene Pueyo Caballero with 58. Los Al alum Jennifer Connelly did some work on both ends of the pool with 30 goals, 22 assists and 24 steals. Amy Fritz was another standout for LBCC with 53 goals and a team-high 45 steals.
