Birmingham Charter girls water polo team wins CIF SoCal Regional title

Three girls water polo teams from the Daily News area competed in the CIF State Regional Championships this week, and one came home with championship hardware.

No. 2 seed Birmingham won the CIF Southern California Division I Regional championship Saturday afternoon with an 11-4 upset victory over No. 1 seed Coronado.

After winning the CIF LA City Section Open Division with an 18-9 victory over Granada Hills Charter, Birmingham began its road to the regional title with a decisive 20-8 win in the first round against No. 7 seed San Pedro.

The Patriots followed that with a close win, 12-11, over No. 3-seeded Schurr — their second win against Schurr this season.

They then beat Coronado to win the regional crown Saturday at Long Beach City College.

In the final, Birmingham led 3-1 at the end of the first quarter and took a 6-4 advantage into halftime before outscoring Coronado 5-0 in the second half.

Saturday was Birmingham’s second consecutive appearance in the Division III SoCal Regional finals. Birmingham lost to Cathedral Catholic in the 2025 final.

Oaks Christian and Granada Hills Charter were the two other area programs that competed this week in the CIF Southern California Regional playoffs.

Oaks Christian came into the Division I Regional as the No. 1 seed after winning the CIF Southern Section Open Division title on Saturday, Feb. 21.

They beat No. 8 seed Beckman 16-13 in the first round of regional play.

The Lions lost to No. 5 seed San Marcos 11-10 in the regional semifinals. The two teams had split their two games earlier in the season.

Oaks Christian trailed San Marcos 7-3 in the second quarter before scoring four straight goals to tie the game at 7-7. San Marcos grabbed the lead back with two consecutive scores to take a 9-7 lead into the fourth quarter.

The Lions tied the contest up at 10 before ultimately falling short after San Marcos scored the decisive goal in the final frame to grab an 11-10 win.

Granada Hills Charter competed in the Division III regional.

The No. 5 seed Highlanders won a close first-round matchup over No. 4 seed San Bernardino 12-11 on Tuesday, Feb. 24.

Granada Hills advanced to play Coronado in the regional semifinals. The top seed proved to be too much for the Highlanders, as their season ended with a 17-7 loss to Coronado.

That capped what was a strong postseason for Granada Hills after it finished second in the West Valley League. It reached City Section Open Division playoffs, where it lost to Birmingham.