Playing four games over two days at the Cuesta Tournament, the Cerritos College women's water polo team won their two games on Sunday and split the weekend. On the first day at Morro Bay High School, the Falcons (2-2) were defeated by both West Valley College (11-6) and defending CCCAA State Champion Santa Barbara City College, 17-4. They recovered on the second day and posted wins over both Diablo Valley College (11-9) and Fresno City College (7-5). The team will host El Camino College on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. in their South Coast Conference opener.
Cerritos vs. West Valley: It was a game of momentum swings, as each team scored their goals in bunches. The Vikings scored the first four goals of the game in the first period, before the Falcons scored the next three in the second period. Freshman Lizbeth Ramirez (Sunny Hills HS) scored early in the third quarter to get the team to within 6-5, but West Valley would go on to score five of the final six goals of the game. Freshman Carolina Medrano (Schurr HS) led the team with three goals on 12 shots, while Ramirez finished with a pair of goals. Freshman Mayra Olivas (Montebello HS) accounted for five of the team's 10 steals, with sophomore goalkeeper Dulce Medina (Paramount HS) posting eight saves.
Cerritos vs. Santa Barbara City: Facing the defending state champion Vaqueros, the Falcons trailed just 4-2 after the first period. But a 6-0 SBCC second period gave them a 10-2 advantage and Cerritos wasn't able to get back into position to look for the upset. Medrano scored twice and drew five ejections, while the team converted just four of their 24 shot attempts. The team turned the ball over 12 times, with Medina leading the team with three steals and made a pair of stops.
Cerritos vs. Diablo Valley: Coming back the next morning, the Falcons opened up a 10-5 lead in the third quarter and withstood a late rally by the Vikings. It was a 10-9 game with 4:35 left in the game after Haley Grimmer scored for Diablo Valley. The defense kept them off the board the remainder of the game and received an insurance goal from freshman Karol Martinez (Warren HS) on a power play with 1:38 remaining. Medina recorded a season-high 10 saves, with freshman Kate De La Mora (Schurr HS) leading the team with four goals and drew four ejections. Sophomore Lizbeth Gomez (Schurr HS), the team's second-leading scorer last season, finished with three goals, with Medrano posting a pair of goals in the win.
Cerritos vs. Fresno City: In their final game of the tournament, the trio of Gomez, De La Mora and Olivas each scored in the first period to give the Falcons a 3-0 lead. But the Rams would keep Cerritos off the board in the second quarter and post two of their own to make it a 3-2 contest going into halftime. Olivas recorded the lone goal of the third period, while the two teams combined for six fourth period tallies. Olivas put the team in from 5-2, with Gomez posting an insurance goal with 1:26 left in the game to make it a 7-4 game. Olivas finished with three goals, with Gomez accounting for two goals and three assists, while Media finished with eight saves.