The Cerritos women's water polo team has been seeded #7 for the SoCal Regional Playoffs. The Falcons (19-9), who came in second place in the South Coast Conference, will take on #10-seeded Cuesta College (18-14), who came in fifth place in the Western State Conference. The teams will face each other in the 1st Round on Thursday at 2:00 p.m. at Riverside City College. The winner takes on the #2-seeded host Tigers on Friday.
This will be the first meeting between Cerritos and Cuesta this season. The Falcons faced Riverside City twice this year and lost both games, while the Cougars lost in their only meeting this year with the Tigers.
One win away from their first 20-win season since 2012, the Falcons lost all nine of their games this season to teams that qualified for the post-season. As for the Cougars, they went 1-8 against teams from Southern California that advanced to the post-season. They also played their first 14 games of the year against schools from Northern California.
Cerritos is led by freshman Mia Carbajal (Schurr HS), who has scored 88 goals on the year, and is second on the team in assists (43) and steals (65). She ranks seventh in the state in goals, while her steals total is also eighth in the state. School record-breaker Amy Cervantes (Montebello HS/East Los Angeles College) leads the team and state in assists (104) and is also second on the team with 53 goals. The Falcons also boast three more players who have scored over 40 goals this season, with sophomore Mayra Olivas (Montebello HS) third on the team with 46 goals and ranks seventh in the state with 67 steals. She led the state last year with a schoool-record 105 thefts. Freshman Gabby Arenas (Montebello HS) has added 45 goals on the year, while sophomore Carolina Medrano (Schurr HS) and provided 44 goals, 38 steals and 34 assists. In goal, freshman April Nuno (Cerritos HS) is tied for fifth in the state with 19 wins, while she has posted 154 saves on the year.
The Cougars have been led by Tori Blanchard with 66 goals, while the duo of Sadie Emmitt (45 goals) and Madi Hermesch (42) have also been offensive threats. Goalie Tina Bell leads the defense with 48 steals and has even scored a pair of goals. Emmitt also leads the team in assists (49) and has 47 steals for Cuesta. Eight of their 10 players on the roster have recorded at least 20 goals this season.