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The
Cerritos
College
women's
water
polo
team won
their
fourth
tournament
championship
of the
season,
as they
swept
four
opponents
at the
Citrus
Tournament
over the
weekend.
The
Falcons
improved
their
winning
streak
to 17
matches
in a row
and are
now 24-1
on the
season.
They
posted
wins
over the
host
Owls
(15-4)
and Rio
Hondo
College,
15-0 on
the
first
day and
followed
that
with
wins
over
Chaffey
College
(18-8)
and
Orange
Coast
College,
9-4 to
win the
tournament
title.
The team
will now
host
rival
Long
Beach
City
College
at 3:00
p.m. on
Wednesday
in a
rematch
of the
state
championship
game
from
last
year.
Cerritos
won
their
first
state
championship
by
beating
the
Vikings,
11-6.
In the
opening
win over
Citrus,
sophomore
Natalie Peng
(Cerritos
HS)
and
freshman Mehgan Carbajal
(El
Rancho
HS)
each
scored
three
times to
lead the
way.
After a
close
2-2
first
quarter,
the
Falcons
scored
eight
unanswered
second
quarter
goals
and
never
looked
back.
The team
received
a big
boost in
the win
when
freshman
goalkeeper
Melissa Cedarholm
(Warren
HS)
made a
save on
a
five-meter
penalty
shot.
The trio
of
Yvonne Ruvalcaba
(Montebello
HS),
Raquel Gabayeron
(Cerritos
HS)
and
Sharon Pedregon
(El
Rancho
HS)
all
scored
twice,
while Pedregon
led the
team
with
four
assists
and Gabayeron
added
four
steals.
It was a
different
pair of
players
that led
the team
in
scoring
in the
win over
Rio
Hondo,
as
sophomores Kristen
Rivas
(Montebello
HS)
and
Nicole
Tuning
(Los
Altos HS)
each
scored a
trio of
goals,
while Gabayeron
was
joined
by
Amber
Smith
(Warren
HS)
and
Kristina Zalewski
(Western
HS)
with two
goals
each.
The
defense
produced
12
steals,
while
sophomore
goalkeeper
Miranda Bakke
(Gahr
HS)
was only
asked to
make
three
saves in
preserving
the
shutout
win.
Freshman Crystle Casarez
(Montebello
HS)
scored
five
times
against
Chaffey,
as the
Falcons
bombarded
the
Panthers
goal
with a
barrage
of
shots.
In the
game,
Cerritos
posted
38
shots,
while Bakke
made
eight
saves in
goal. Carbajal
checked
in with
four
goals,
while Gabayeron
added
three
goals
and a
pair of
steals. Peng
led the
way with
three
steals
and a
pair of
goals,
while
three
others
had two
steals.
Cerritos
clinched
the
tournament
title
with
their
win over
the
Pirates,
but it
took a
solid
second
half
effort
to lock
down the
win.
With the
scored
tied at
4-4 in
the
second
quarter, the
Falcons
went on
to post
the
final
five
goals of
the game
to pull
away. Carbajal
broke
the tie
with
4:05
left in
the
second
quarter,
while Gabayeron
added
another
goal
right
before
halftime
to gain
momentum.
It
carried
over the
rest of
the
game, as
Orange
Coast
was
unable
to score
the rest
of the
way. Peng
led the
team
with
four
goals,
while Gabayeron
(four
steals)
and Carbajal
each
contributed
a pair
of
goals. Cedarholm
finished
with
four
saves.
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