Friday, March 23, 2018

#25 East Bay Cruises Past La Verne, 14-6, for Fourth Straight Win

By: Steve Connolly, Director of CAL State  East Bay Athletic Communications
Box Score (PDF)

LA VERNE, Calif.
-- The No. 25 ranked Cal State East Bay water polo team cruised to its fourth straight victory on Thursday morning, defeating the University of La Verne on the road by a score of 14-6.

After claiming the first two contests of their four-game Spring Break road trip, the  Pioneers have now won seven of their last eight overall to improve to 11-7 for the season.

Eight different players scored for East Bay in the victory, led by reigning WWPA Player of the Week Adrien Van Dyke, who netted each of her game-high four goals within the first nine minutes of game time.

Van Dyke put the Pioneers ahead on the very first possession of the game, but La Verne answered back two minutes later, and it was tied 1-1 at the midway point of the first period. CSUEB then put on a scoring barrage, tallying three goals over the next three minutes. Auriel Bill found the back of the cage to re-take the lead, and then Van Dyke scored twice more to secure a hat trick before the end of the first. 

The Pioneers had so much fun out-scoring the Leopards 4-2 in the opening period, they did the exact same thing in the second to take an 8-4 lead into halftime. Van Dyke found the back of the cage for fourth time, and then Maci Taylor, Briana Ruiz, and Cheyenne Brady added tallies in the goal column before the end of the second period. 

Makenna Nation only had to make one save during the first two quarters to pick up a victory in the cage. The junior handed off goalkeeping duties to Erika McFeggan, who notched three saves in just under 14 minutes of game time before Skyler Ramirez took over for the end of the fourth quarter. 

McFeggan and the CSUEB defense shut La Verna out in the third period, as the visitors continued to stretch out their lead. Maci Taylor picked up her second goal of the day, and then Ivanna Anderson and Beverly Ayers got in on the fun to put the Pioneers ahead 11-4 after the third.

Anderson and Ruiz notched their second goals in the fourth period, and then Leilani Vazquez became the eighth Pioneer to score to close out the morning. It was an impressive defensive effort for East Bay, which held La Verne to just two goals in the second half.

Bill finished with two assists and three steals, and Taylor notched an assist and two steals to go along with her two goals.

The Pioneers are back in action Friday at 12:00 p.m. to face their toughest test of the week at No. 20 Cal State Northridge, as they attempt to secure their second victory of the year against a top-25 team.

No comments:

Post a Comment