The women’s water polo hits off the beginning the season with a 4-1 record.

Already having played one conference game, and a weekend long tournament, the team has the momentum to move forward with a winning record.

Rio Hondo

In their season opener the Falcons went up against conference mate Rio Hondo. They were able to out play the Road Runners, and win, with a score of 18-3

Although the team had a few mistakes early in the first quarter the women were able to gain comfortability, and gain dominance on the scoreboard.

“We were nervous,” Coach Sergio Macias said, “[We had] five turnovers, a lot of missed opportunities [and] first game jitters.”

The nervousness and mistakes were nothing to be too concerned about. As the game went on the team found its footing and began performing at its skill level.

“There was no reason to panic,” he said, “We just kind of got better, more comfortable [and] more confident throughout the game.”

Sophomore, two meter position holder, Vanessa Hinojosa really got the game rolling scoring the team’s first goal of the day. She was able to record four of the first five goals of the game.

“As a team new team [we] are playing pretty good overall,” Hinojosa said as she commented on the team’s overall performance in the game.

In the second quarter, the Falcons led defensively having a total of 15 steals recorded at the end of the game. Three of which were credited to sophomore Channon Owens who was the team leader in steals for the day.

Going into the second half, Cerritos took a commanding lead over the Road Runner extending the score to 12.

Freshman Isabella Sierra was a big stand out for the team scoring the first goal of the third quarter.

She followed that up with an assist to Hinojosa who scored the next goal, as well as scoring her second goal of the game.

This all took place in a span of just a little over two minutes.

The dominance continued well into the last quarter completely shutting down Rio Hondo’s offense not allowing any shots to hit the back of the net.

Cerritos was able to finish the game off with five consecutive goals to finish with a total of 13.

A good thing through the entire game that Coach Macias saw was “everyone contributing.”

“We had six or seven scorers, which was good to see,” he continued, “Our bench players that came in played with some confidence which was good.”

Cuesta Tournament: Cerritos vs West Valley

The women traveled to Cuesta College in San Luis Obispo to compete in a tournament.

The first day of the tournament the Falcons faced West Valley College where it shutout since 2012 and finished the game with a score of 13-0.

Although the season opened well there were still some concerns coming from some of the players.

Sophomore Elisa Prohroff said, “Communication, sharper defense and coming out stronger in the first quarter,” were some of the main concerns to point out.

Doing what Prohroff hoped the team would, it came out strong in the first quarter posting the first five of 13 goals in the game.

Sophomore Mikaela Padilla, proved to be a powerhouse leading the team with four goals.

She went to score two of the first five goals in the first quarter while Sierra scored the number one goal with the help of Padilla.

Sierra also went on to score the last goal of the quarter as well, which followed a goal by Prohroff in the third minute.

Adding to the lead and to an already strong individual season Hinojosa scored the beginning of the second quarter. It was followed by Padilla, who went on to score her third goal of the game.

As the second quarter went underway and the shut out continued again with Padilla making a statement scoring the first goal of the half.

In total the women had six different goal scorers with the team totaling 37 shots on goal.

The teams also totaled nine assists and 22 steals.

Cuesta Tournament: Cerritos vs Cuesta College

The momentum from the shutout continued over to the next game where the Falcons competed against the host school Cuesta College. Cerritos would go to win the game 15-4.

The team began the game scoring two goals however Cuesta answered back scoring two goals as well. It left the first quarter with the game tied.

However, the Falcons answered back scoring five goals that would go uncontested.

Sierra would prove to be the standout player in this match scoring in all four quarters for a total of 4 goals, and having three steals in the game.

Defensively Owens and Hinojosa shutdown Cuesta’s offense accounting for nine of the 18 steals in the game.

The Final Day

The following two games would prove to be not as strong as the previously played.

In the game against Diablo Valley, the team defensive did not perform allowing 5 goals to find the back of the net.

The Falcons did score 10 goals in the entire match which seems miniscule to their previous 15 and 18 point scores.

The team would go on to win holding Diablo Valley to just those five goals. The final score recorded was 10-5.

The weekend, unfortunately ended in disappointment.

The Falcons ended the weekend with a 13-7 loss to the Santa Barbara City College Vaqueros.

The 1-0 nothing lead in the first quarter quickly turned to a 6-1 deficit in favor of Santa Barbara.

Cerritos would get off another shot off that would find the back of the net during the second quarter.

However, as the game continued the Vaqueros too a commanding 11-2 lead against the Falcons.

Even with another tremendous performance by Sierra late in the fourth quarter the team could not come out with the win.

She posted three goals in the quarter and four throughout the entire game.

Unfortunately, the good attempts did not out weigh the mistakes made earlier and with a total of 19 turnovers Cerritos ultimately lost the game.

Going forward Coach Macias he wants to see everyone, “Continue to give the same effort, learn from our mistakes [and] accept mistakes because [the team] is just part of the game.”

“[We need to] just grow as a team and build more of a cohesive unit, amongst this group. That will hopefully make up for hopefully for what we lack as far as talent,” he finished.

The women have their home opener Wednesday at 3 p.m.

The team will host East Los Angeles College in the first conference game of the season.