Locked in a tight battle against visiting Chaffey College in their South Coast Conference opener on Wednesday, the Cerritos College women's water polo team came up short in a 10-9 decision. It snapped a 12-match winning streak against the Panthers, which dated back to October 7, 2015 when Chaffey recorded a 10-6 win. Next up for the Falcons in a conference game against Pasadena City College at 3:00 p.m. next Wednesday.

 

Cerritos (2-4, 0-1) opened up a 6-3 lead over Chaffey after the first period, with freshman Camila Oliveira (Cerritos HS) accounting for four of the goals with freshman Delainey Garcia (California HS) assisting on all of them.

A pair of turnovers to start the second period led to Panthers goals, who drew to a 7-7 tie by intermission. Just like in the second period, the Falcons struggled with maintaining possession of the ball, the Chaffey scoring the first three goals of the period.

Cerritos did receive a goal from Oliveira with 2:04 remaining in the third quarter and trailed 10-8 heading into the fourth period. The Falcons had several great scoring chances but could not find the back of the net. Those missed opportunities would come back to haunt the team, as they also had the final shot of the game, but Oliveira was turned away.

 

Garcia finished with five assists on the day, while the state's leading goal scorer, Jewels Longoria-Morasky (La Serna HS) was limited to just one goal. Freshman Savannah Gafford (St. Joseph HS)  scored twice in the game, with freshman Clairissa Nuno (Cerritos HS) making 11 saves.

Photos by Daryl Peterson