After splitting their first two games at the Battle at the Beach Tournament on Friday, the Cerritos College women's water polo team collected a pair of wins on Saturday. The Falcons (23-3), ranked #2 in the state, defeated Orange Coast College, 8-6 and then finished off with a 10-4 victory over #9-ranked Palomar College, with both games played at Cypress College. The team will play their final South Coast Conference game on Wednesday at 3:00 p.m. when they host #10-ranked Mt. San Antonio College.

The win over the #6-ranked Pirates was the second in the last two weeks, as the Falcons defeated them, 7-5 at the Pasadena Tournament. On Saturday, Cerritos trailed 2-0 in the first quarter before sophomore Yuridia Vela (Schurr HS) scored a pair of goals to tie the game in the second quarter. By the third quarter, it was a 6-3 Cerritos lead until Orange Coast closed the score to 7-6 with 3:03 remaining after a Vivianne Mai goal. Sophomore Katherine Gabayeron (Cerritos HS) closed the game out with her third goal of the game with 2:28 left. Neither team would score the rest of the game with sophomore goalie Sharon Ku (Cerritos HS) posting seven saves.

Gabayeron kept her scoring streak going with five tallies against the Comets, who played from behind the entire match. Freshman Angelica Hernandez (El Rancho HS) added three goals in the second quarter, while freshman Jasmine Villalpando (Montebello HS) led the defensive approach with four steals. Gayaberon added three steals, with freshman Carla Harvey (Potomac Falls, VA HS) dishing out four assists in the win. Ku turned away seven Palomar shots.

Photo by Daryl Peterson