Katherine Gabayeron’s scoring abilities were a spectacle to be sought at the Chaffey Tournament in Rancho Cucamonga over the weekend, as she helped the Cerritos College women’s water polo team improve to an impressive 8-1 overall record.

Gabayeron, a sophomore utility, completed a stellar weekend performance with a total of thirteen goals in four games, helping the Falcons walk away with three wins from four appearances.

Opening up the tournament and cruising to an easy 16-5 win over San Diego Mesa College, the Cerritos College women’s water polo team was aware that its second match up of the weekend would not be as simple.

Facing reigning women’s water polo State Champion Riverside College, the Cerritos College women’s water polo team proved they were up for the challenge early.

Capitalizing off of back-to-back goals from Yuridia Vela and Jasmine Villalpando, the Cerritos College team took a 7-5 lead into the second quarter. It was the team’s largest lead of the match.

The Riverside Tigers shot right back forcing a 7-7 tie at the half.

Coming right back from halftime in full force, the Riverside College women’s water polo team scored four consecutive goals to take a large lead that the Cerritos College team would never fully recover from.

Despite goalkeeper Sharon Ku’s career-high 16 saves, the Cerritos College team were handed their first loss of the season by Riverside College, who walked away with a 13-9 victory.

“We had some really good moments, and we had some blunder moments,” Gabayeron explained.

Expressing the Cerritos College team’s preparedness for the match up, Gabayeron continued by stating, “going into the game we knew this was Riverside and that they were the State Champions, and we would have to play hard against them… but, I think we got complacent, and they started playing more aggressively and we were not reacting to it.”

Cerritos College women’s water polo head coach Sergio Macias viewed the game versus Riverside as a perfect stepping stone to see where his team ranks against top competitors.

Coach Macias justified this, stating, “even though we lost, we learned how different the competition is when the opposing team is the aggressor… [but] if we can learn how to put together a 4-quarter game, we will be tough to beat.”

“As of now, the Riverside College women’s water polo team is the defending state champs and they haven’t lost a game since 2010… if we want to be the best team we have to beat the best teams when it counts”, coach Macias clarified.

The Cerritos College team got back to their winning ways in day two of the tournament, starting off with a whopping 17-6 victory over the Cypress College team.

Freshman Angelica Hernandez tacked-on four goals in the match, leading the Cerritos College team in two shut out quarters, including a 7-0 third quarter.

Impressive offense was proven to be key to a final weekend triumph, as the Cerritos College team tallied a season-high 22 goals against Citrus College to finish the Chaffey Tournament with a bang.

10 saves from Sharon Ku helped the Cerritos College team close out the weekend with a 22-10 victory.

The Cerritos College women’s water polo team head right back into conference play Wednesday, Sept. 18, heading over to Long Beach City College looking to improve to a 2-0 conference record.