W. Water Polo: Team splits pair of games at tournament

File Photo: Falcons split games at own tourney
File Photo: Falcons split games at own tourney

Hosting a one-day tournament on Friday, the Cerritos College women's water polo team split their two games. The Falcons (10-2, 3-0) opened the day with a 23-8 win over Chaffey College in a game that was considered their South Coast Conference meeting, while the team followed with a 17-14 loss to Orange Coast College in a game that had post-season seeding implications. The team will take a week and a half off before they host conference rival Long Beach City College at 3:00 p.m. on October 13.

Against the Panthers, the Falcons exploded for 14 first half goals, including a season-high eight in the first period. The team was ultra efficient on their shots, as they converted 23 of 29 in the match, with freshman Angelina Romero (Schurr HS) converting all five of her shots into goals. Sophomore All-American Mia Carbajal (Schurr HS) was successful on five of her six shots, as the duo led the team in goals, with 11 of the 12 position players scoring at least once. Sophomore goalkeeper Haili Snook (Downey HS) played her fourth straight game and recorded a win in each appearance. She made seven saves against Chaffey.

In their battle against the Pirates, the team found themselves trailing, 10-7 at halftime. Orange Coast posted seven second quarter goals and scored six goals in a row at one point. But Cerritos continued to fight back and drew to 12-11 by the end of the third period, thanks to a pair of quick goals by freshman Keyla Santos (Schurr HS) and Romero. However, the Pirates opened the fourth period with a pair of goals, with Cerritos only able to close to within two goals after a Carbajal tally with 3:04 remaining. Carbajal finished with six goals, with Romero adding four, while Santos assisted on six of the team's goals.