Although they had a slow start to their South Coast Conference match against Los Angeles Trade-Tech College on Wednesday, the Cerritos College women's water polo team was able to pull away in the second half. Playing their first home game of the season, the Falcons (4-6, 1-1) broke a close 6-4 game in the second quarter by outscoring the Beavers (0-3, 0-1), 13-4 the remainder of the game for a 19-8 victory. The team will now host Long Beach City College at 3:00 p.m. next Wedesday.

Cerritos held a 3-1 lead after the first quarter and after LA Trade-Tech scored two straight goals to get the game to within 6-4 with 3:42 left in the first half, the Falcons started to slowly pull away. Goals by freshman Kaitlyn Mendez (Cerritos HS) and sophomore Catie Tuning (Los Altos HS/University of La Verne) helped put the team up, 9-4 at halftime.

In the third quarter, the Falcons outscored LATT, 7-1 with six different players accounting for goals, as freshman Alexandra Lopez (Whittier HS) accounted for a pair. Cerritos continued to pull away and eventually won the game handily.

Freshman Claudia Martinez (Roosevelt HS) led the team with four goals and four assists, while the trio of Lopez, Tuning and sophomore Bianca Serrano (Cerritos HS) all scored three times. Freshman goalkeeper Catherine Borunda (El Rancho HS) also got involved in the scoring, as she scored from half tank at the halftime buzzer, while she also made seven saves.

Photos by Daryl Peterson