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For the second year in a row, the
Cerritos College women’s water polo team swept through
the San Diego Mesa Tournament to win the championship.
The Falcons (11-4) posted wins over Southwestern (15-4),
Ventura (10-5), Chaffey (12-11) and the host Olympians
(8-4) to secure the championship. The win over Chaffey
was a big one, as the Panthers beat Cerritos, 9-7 in
their South Coast Conference matchup. The team will now
resume SCC play and hosts cross-town rival Long Beach
City College at 3:00 p.m. on Wednesday.
The Falcons
opened with a convincing 15-4 win over Southwestern,
with 10 different players scoring at least one goal. The
duo of sophomore
Ashley Badali
(Gahr HS) and freshman
Jackie
Guerrero (Montebello HS) each scored
three times, while freshman
Angela
Chiaromonte (Schurr HS) led the way with
five steals. Cerritos did a great job defensively in the
match, as freshmen
Stephanie
Rosero (Downey HS),
Denise Vega
(Montebello HS) and
Hannah Llamas
(Gahr HS) all finished with three steals.
Rosero led the
team offensively in the win over Ventura with four
goals, while Vega posted five steals and added two
goals. Freshman
Kim Diaz
(Bell Gardens HS) stepped up and finished with
three goals, while sophomore goalkeeper
Sarah Kenny
(La Habra HS) turned away seven shots. It was a
playoff-like atmosphere in the game against Chaffey, as
they teams traded the lead early on in the match.
However, in the second half, the Falcons opened up some
breathing room and surrendered a late goal to win by
one. Badali and sophomore
Vivian
Aguirre (Downey HS) each helped take some
of the pressure off Rosero, who was covered all game,
and scored three goals each. Rosero countered with a
great defensive game and had five steals to go along
with her two goals, with Vega recording four steals.
In the
championship game, Kenny came up with some big saves as
the team was looking to build a lead. She finished the
game with eight saves, while Rosero was a star at both
ends of the pool, as she had three goals and six steals
in the victory. Vega continued to be aggressive on
defense and added four steals, with Badali scoring
twice. |
