The562’s coverage of aquatic sports in Long Beach in 2025-26 is sponsored by Watersafe Swim School.
The562’s coverage of Long Beach Wilson Athletics is sponsored by Joel Bitonio, Class of 2009.
It’s not often that the Wilson girls’ water polo program is the underdog. The Bruins want to be in the conversation as one of top echelon teams in the country.
The Bruins got what they wanted as they made it into the CIF Southern Section Open Division playoffs as the No. 8 team and will be on the road throughout pool play.
Wilson started their 3-game pool play journey in Santa Ana against Mater Dei on Wednesday night. The Bruins battled throughout the contest, but ultimately lost to the Monarchs, 13-5 to in their first contest of the postseason.
“I thought our girls came out and played really well tonight,” Wilson coach Barry O’Dea said. “It was my best game against them. They’re really good. And we did some really good things. We missed a couple of good opportunities.”
The Monarchs jumped out to a 4-0 on the Bruins with 3:25 left in the first. Wilson had a couple 6-on-5 chances but weren’t able to convert.
Reece Haga scored the first goal for the Bruins as they trailed 4-1 at the end of the first quarter. In the second period, the Bruins’ locked defensively as they held the Monarchs to two goals and Haga scored her second goal on a 6-on-5 opportunity to make it a 5-2 lead with 4:27 remaining in the half.
Wilson was dealt a blow when they lost Abigail Billish, but the Bruins continued to battle behind a solid night in the cage from Teagan Shandrew-Pearsall came up with big saves on her way to 10 on the night, to give Wilson an opportunity to try and make something happen. The Monarchs scored one more goal in the first half as they took a 6-2 lead at the break.
“Obviously losing Abby early in the 2nd quarter like that, that hurts us,” O’Dea said. “So we gotta do a better job of staying smart, not taking exclusions in areas. But, I thought for Tegan that was the best game of the year her. It was really good.”
Mater Dei pushed the lead to five early in third period but Kate Tunnicliff responded with her first goal to cut the lead back to 7-3 when she converted on a 6-on-5 chance. After the Monarchs pushed the lead back to five, Francesca Garcia scored her first goal to make it 8-4.
Wilson defense held strong but, they went on a 2-for-2 on 6-on-5 chances and Elizabeth Roel’s first goal for the Bruins made it 10-5 heading into the final period.
Mater Dei’s defense shoutout the Bruins in the final quarter, but Wilson had two 6-on-5 opportunities. With the opening game loss, Wilson will be back on the road on Saturday when they take on Orange Lutheran at Santiago College.
“I just told them don’t hang your heads,” O’Dea said. “We have two more games. We can go win two and get ourselves in a really good position.
O’Dea’s message is simple for his team as they take on two more teams ranked higher than them.
“Nothing to lose,” O’Dea said. “That’s what we’ve been talking about all week. We got nothing to lose. We’re the number eight seed. So let’s go leave it all in the pool. And I thought they did a pretty good job of that.”
