Huntington Beach, Calif. – Golden West women's water polo team left it all in the water as they faced the number one seed Santa Barbara in a semifinal match to determine who would go to the state tournament. Unfortunately, Golden West fell short losing 10-9 in double overtime.

The Rustler's got on the board first when Riley Beemer found the back of the goal 90 seconds into the match. After a Santa Barbara goal a minute later, Beemer would net her second goal of the quarter followed by a goal from teammate Isabella Magno to give the Rustlers a 3-1 lead. Golden West would surrendered the lead as the first half came to end when Santa Barbara tightened up their defense and scored four unanswered goals to take a 5-3 lead at half.

In the third quarter both teams would net three goals apiece as Santa Barbara would carry a 8-6 lead to the important fourth quarter. The Rustlers defense and goalie Kailyn Zwaagstra did everything they could to blank Santa Barbara in the fourth quarter. April Storm Alvarez and Rheanna Lawrence found the back of the net to tie the game at 8-8 and send it to overtime. But in the first overtime Santa Barbara's Nicole Cosares would net two goals to help secure the Vaqueros victory. Julie Luna would score a goal with almost two minutes left on the clock but that would be all as the Rustlers would fall 10-9.

With the loss Golden West moved on to the third place game against the #2 seed Fullerton College. The Rustlers would go on to beat Fullerton in a hard fought 6-5 match. Riley Beemer and Evelyn Wang led Golden West with two goals apiece. Kailyn Zwaagstra saved 11 of the possible 16 shots on goal. With the win the Golden West College finished third in the 2016 Southern California Regional Championships and ended the season 24-6 overall and 7-2 in Orange Empire Conference play.