Trailing 5-4 at halftime against Chaffey College in a crucial South Coast Conference game on Wednesday, the Cerritos College women's water polo team scored six third quarter goals and went on to win, 12-7 at the Falcon Aquatic Center. The win improved the Falcons to 21-2 on the season and 6-0 in SCC play with just one game to go, while the Panthers dropped to 14-8 and 5-1. Cerritos will now compete in the Battle at the Beach this weekend at Long Beach City College.

Cerritos took a 2-0 lead after the first quarter in a tight defensive game, but Chaffey answered with Julie Bertagna and Kaitlyn Tanner, who each scored a pair of goals to take a 5-4 advantage before halftime. Falcon freshman Angelica Hernandez (El Rancho HS) gave the team a 3-1 lead with a second-effort goal with 5:46 left in the second quarter, while freshman Jasmine Villalpando (Montebello HS) added a five-meter goal with 3:48 left after the Panthers Jordan Carmody was called for the foul. Tanner and Rebecca Moser each scored 6-on-5 goals to tie the game, with Tanner giving Chaffey their first lead (5-4) with :20 seconds left in the half.

But in the second half, it was all Falcons, including the goalkeeping of sophomore Sharon Ku (Cerritos HS) who made eight of her 11 saves in the second half. Chaffey freshman keeper Emily Stone was crucial to keeping the game close early on with eight saves, but was scored against in the third quarter on five straight shots.

Hernandez (five goals) scored the tying goal and give the Falcons the lead for good with 6:38 left in the third quarter when her lob shot as the shot clock expired put the team up, 6-5. Villalpando, who also scored five times, found the net on a one-timer with 5:58 remaining, while an outside shot with 5:22 left in the third put Cerritos on top, 8-5. It was 9-5 after a Carla Harvey (Potomac Falls, VA HS) goal before the Panthers got to within 9-7 on a pair of Bertagna goals. But freshman Bianca Serrano (Cerritos HS) scored with :27 seconds left in the third quarter to take a 10-7 lead into the fourth quarter.

The duo of Villalpando and Hernandez each scored for the Falcons to account for the only goals to close out the scoring.

Photo by Daryl Peterson