#25 CSUEB's Win Streak Snapped at #20 Cal State Northridge

Recap, photo courtesy of CAL State East Bay

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

NORTHRIDGE, Calif. -- The No. 25 ranked Cal State East Bay water polo team had its four-game win streak snapped on Friday, falling on the road to No. 20 Cal State Northridge by a final score of 14-4.

The Pioneer offense went cold in the team's attempt to knock off its second top-25 opponent of the season. They fall to 2-1 on their current Spring Break road trip and 11-8 overall this season. 

The Matadors set the tone by scoring on their first possession of the game. They held a 3-0 lead after one quarter and stretched it out to 7-0 before halftime.

CSUN scored three more unanswered goals in the third before the Pioneers were finally able to have some offensive success. Trailing 11-0 in the fourth, Auriel Bill scored on back-to-back possessions to put East Bay on the scoreboard. 

Brittany Smith added a goal two minutes later, and then Maci Taylor notched the team fourth goal of the afternoon with a minute left in the game. 

Makenna Nation tallied seven saves in the loss. Briana Ruiz led the squad with two steals. 

Next up, the Pioneers conclude their four-game road trip Saturday with a visit to Chapman University for a 2:00 p.m. contest against the Panthers.  -- The No. 25 ranked Cal State East Bay water polo team had its four-game win streak snapped on Friday, falling on the road to No. 20 Cal State Northridge by a final score of 14-4.

#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.

Six Bruins Named to All-Century Team

SAN FRANCISCO – Sixteen players and one coach who excelled at the collegiate level were named to the Pac-12 All-Century Water Polo team on the latest episode of Pac-12 Sports Report Monday evening.

The all-century team is comprised of seven driver/attackers, seven field/utility/2M and two goalkeepers.

The voting panel, which consisted of former players, coaches and members of the media, was highlighted by some of the true authorities in the sport of men’s water polo. These included Chris Dorst, former Stanford player, 1984 Olympic silver medalist and Pac-12 Network analyst, Dan Leyson, former USA men’s assistant coach, USC player, UCLA coach and current UC Davis head coach, and James Smith of TotalWaterPolo.com.

UCLA leads the represented Pac-12 schools with six players, while USC and Stanford both have four

Card Reaches Semifinals

LOS ANGELES – No. 3 Stanford totaled 37 goals in a pair of victories over No. 8 Long Beach State and Concordia to advance to the semifinals of the SoCal Invitational Saturday at Burns Aquatics Center on the campus of Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.

After earning a 12-7 victory over Long Beach State and a 25-7 win over Concordia, the Cardinal (14-2) advanced to the semifinals of the two-day tournament where it will play the winner of Saturday evening’s USC-UC Santa Barbara contest. The Cardinal’s semifinal game will take place at noon on Sunday at Raleigh Runnels Memorial Pool on the campus of Pepperdine University.

After scoring four goals in Stanford’s win over Concordia in the Cardinal’s first game of the day, senior Bret Bonanni picked up right where he left off. He rattled the cage just over three minutes in to its game against Long Beach State in the afternoon to put Stanford up early.

Stanford added scores from Connor Stapleton and Reid Chase to record the first three goals of the game and took a 4-2 lead into the second quarter.

The Waves scored two of the next three goals to cut Stanford’s lead to just one at 5-4 midway through the second quarter, before Stapleton and BJ Churnside each scored a goal in the final 2:17 of the half to give the Cardinal a 7-4 halftime advantage.

Churnside opened the second half with his second goal of the contest as Stanford extended its lead to 8-4.

Stanford held at least a three-goal advantage throughout the remainder of the second half en route to the 12-7 win.

Senior goalie Drew Holland posted six saves in the cage for Stanford.

Earlier on Saturday, the Cardinal recorded its second highest score of the season in the 25-7 victory over Concordia.

Bonanni scored a game-high four goals to lead Stanford.

Stanford also got three goals apiece from junior Kyle Weikert, and redshirt sophomores Justin Roberto and Sam Pfeil in the win. Redshirt junior Adam Abdulhamid (2), junior Connor Stapleton (2) and freshman Marco Stanchi (2) rounded out the Cardinal’s multiple goal scorers in the contest.

Concordia struck first with a goal less than two minutes into the game, before Stanford responded with nine-straight scores en route to a 10-2 first-quarter lead. Bonanni scored three times during the nine-goal run.

The Cardinal took a 12-4 lead into halftime, before adding six goals in the third quarter and seven more in the final period.

Sophomore goalie Oliver Lewis posted 10 saves playing the entire game in the cage for the Cardinal.

Saturday marked Stanford’s second victory of the season over both Long Beach State and Concordia.

The Cardinal previously earned an 11-4 win over the Waves on Sept. 19 and a 20-3 win over the Eagles on Sept. 26.

UCLA Upends UC Irvine, 13-4

MALIBU, Calif., -- The top-ranked UCLA Bruins improved to 15-0 on the year with a 12-4 win over No. 7 UC Irvine (10-3) in the quarterfinals of the 2015 Kap7 SoCal Invitational on Saturday afternoon.

The Bruins were led by senior Anthony Daboub, who tied his career-high with three goals against the Anteaters. UCLA improved to 74-59-1 all-time against UC Irvine.

UCLA exploded for six goals in the first period and never looked back, cruising to an easy victory.

Junior Chancellor Ramirez got the Bruins started seconds into the match, scoring a goal from the