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After earning a share of their first-ever
South Coast Conference championship this season, the
Cerritos College women’s water polo team will look to
repeat as the SCC Tournament champions at 1:00 p.m. on
Saturday. The Falcons, ranked #2 in the state, defeated
El Camino College (18-4) and Chaffey College (10-8) to
advance to the tournament finals against cross town
rival Long Beach City. The win over Chaffey avenged a
9-7 conference loss early in the season, while Cerritos
(25-4) registered a 9-6 win over LBCC in their only
meeting of the season.
In the win over
Chaffey, the match was tied at 5-5 after two periods,
but the Falcons took an 8-6 lead by the end of the third
that they would not relinquish. After trailing 6-5,
sophomore
Vivian
Aguirre (Downey HS) tied the game with
6:28 left in the third, before freshman
Angela
Chiaromonte (Schurr HS) gave the team a
7-6 lead that they would hold on to the rest of the way.
With 1:05 remaining in the third, freshman
Denise Vega
(Montebello HS) increased the lead to 8-6.
After a
Chiaromonte goal made it 9-6, the Panthers scored the
next two goals to make it 9-8. Once again, it was
Chiaromonte who gave the team a two-goal lead, as she
finished off the scoring with 3:31 remaining. Neither
team would score the rest of the game. The team’s
leading scorer, freshman
Stephanie
Rosero (Downey HS), did score two early
goals, but was keyed on the rest of the game. She did
continue to play great defense and led the team with
five steals, while Vega chipped in with four. Sophomore
goalkeeper Sarah Kenny (La Habra HS) came
up with big saves when the team needed her to, and
finished the game with eight.
It was a
lopsided contest against El Camino in the opening game,
as Cerritos led 11-0 at halftime. The team used a
balanced scoring attack, as eight different players
scored. Sophomore
Kimberly Diaz
(Bell Gardens HS) led the team with four goals,
while Aguirre and sophomore
Daisy
Gutierrez (Bell Gardens HS) each added
three goals. Vega again had four steals, with Aguirre
adding three, while Kenny and freshman
Hannah
Pawlowski (La Serna HS) shut down the
Warriors. |
