On Thursday in the first round of the Southern California Regional Playoffs, the #7-seeded Cerritos College women's water polo team posted a 9-6 win over #10-seeded Cuesta College. The win advances the Falcons (20-9) to the second round, where they will take on #2-seeded Riverside City College, who are also the hosts of the tournament. The win by Cerritos earns them their first 20-win season since 2012. They will be facing the Tigers for the third time this season and will be looking for their first win over them.

In the win over the Cougars, the game started off with both teams scoring quickly. After three possessions, the Falcons held a 3-1 advantage, thanks to goals from Mayra Olivas (Montebello HS), Mia Carbajal (Schurr HS) and Carolina Medrano (Schurr HS). Cuesta closed to within 4-3 after the first period when they got a shot past goalkeeper April Nuno (Cerritos HS) with :03 seconds left on the clock.

It was a 4-4 contest early in the second period until Cerritos scored three straight goals to open up a 7-4 edge. Carbajal scored with 6:25 left in the half, followed by power play goals from both Gabby Arenas (Montebello HS) and Carbajal to give them the three-goal lead.

Holding a 7-5 lead at halftime, the second half was more of an offensive struggle, as the teams combined for just three goals. Good goalkeeping, along with solid defense, put goals at a premium. When Carbajal scored on the team's first possession in the third period, nobody knew it would turn out to be the only offense of the period. Nuno, who made 12 saves on the day, came up with several big stops, while Cerritos recorded most of their 12 steals in the second half.

Carbajal scored her fifth goal of the game in a similar fashion that she has scored most of her goals this season. Sophomore Amy Cervates (Montebello HS/East Los Angeles College), the state leader in assists, added eight more to her school record total, as she was the cornerstone of the offense. With precision passing and an eye for watching a play develop, Cervantes connected with Carbajal on all five of her goals in the game, and how has 112 assists on the season.

Along with her 12 saves, Nuno also added a pair of steals, while Olivas led the team with three thefts. Medrano, Carbajal and Cervantes also stole the ball twice, with Carbajal giving the team four power plays by drawing four exclusions, with the team converting four of their seven chances.