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Playing in their first Southern
California Regional Playoff game in school history, the
Cerritos College women's water polo team got a taste of
what it's like to be the hunted. The Falcons (28-3),
seeded #2 in the regionals, suffered a 9-6 loss to
#7-seeded Golden West College Friday afternoon at
Cypress College and were eliminated from the playoffs.
Cerritos set new school record for most wins in a season
(28), while they won their first South Coast Conference
championship. The Rustlers (17-12) will now face Long
Beach City College in the semi-finals.
The Falcons trailed the entire way,
with the score tied three different times until
sophomore
Berlyn
Sanchez (El
Rancho HS) scored on a power play with 1:08
remaining in the third quarter to give Cerritos their
first lead, 6-5. It would turn out to be the final goal
of the game for the Falcons, as Golden West tied the
game at 6-6 on a goal by Kelly Brown with 33 seconds
left in the quarter and shut out Cerritos in the fourth
quarter to earn the win.
After falling behind 3-1 early in the
second quarter, freshman
Grace
Quintana (Montebello
HS) scored twice, including a power play
goal with 1:53 left in the first half to get the team to
a 3-3 tie. Freshman
Daisy
Carrillo (Montebello
HS) picked up the assist on both of the
goals.
It was a tightly played game
defensively, with both teams looking for high percentage
shots, only to be denied by the crossbar, as each team
hit it three times. The Rustlers hit the crossbar twice
in the first two minutes of the game, while freshman
goalkeeper
Sarah Kenny
(Cypress HS)
also came up with several huge saves. The same could be
said for Rustler goalkeeper Katie Parker, who turned
away two backhand shots early in the third quarter with
the Falcons looking to take a lead.
Golden West tied the game at 6-6 with
33 seconds remaining, as Brown scored on a lob from the
outside with the shot clock about to expire. Ashley
McClure scored the next two goals for the Rustlers to
give them an 8-6 lead with 3:50 remaining, while Joanna
Torres closed out the scoring in the game. |
