East Bay Set to Open the Season at Northern California Invite
- January 29, 2010
HAYWARD, Calif. - The Cal State East Bay women's water polo team will face a trio of tough tests as it opens the season at the Northern California Invitational at Cal this weekend. The Pioneers take on three Division I programs in Pacific, No. 18 Santa Clara and No. 3 Hawai'i at Spieker Aquatics Complex in Berkeley.
The Pioneers kick off the 2010 campaign after splitting two warm-up exhibitions in the last two weeks. East Bay fell to the Olympic Club of San Francisco, 12-8 on Jan. 17 before topping the Pioneer Alumni squad, 17-4, in the annual matchup. The team welcomes back nine players from the 2009 squad that made CSUEB's sixth straight appearance at National Collegiate III Championships, while 10 newcomers are looking to find spots in the lineup.
Cal State East Bay was picked to finish seventh in the 2010 Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Coaches' Poll, garnering 29 points. Among the key returners for East Bay are senior goalie Lauren Merrill, who posted 146 saves last season, junior driver Mary Rosa and junior two meter Liz Warren, who combined to score 173 of the Pioneers' 405 goals last year, and senior utility Jenna Casady, who returns after pacing the 2009 squad with 70 assists to go along with her 56 goals on the year. Rosa, Warren and Casady collected Association of Collegiate Water Polo Coaches (ACWPC) All-America honors for their efforts in 2009.
A quality group of newcomers features six junior transfers, including driver Danielle Comforti and utility Whitney Bell, who join the Pioneers from Sierra College, where they helped guide the Wolverines to the 2008 Big 8 Conference title and a third-place regional finish. Palomar College standouts Tristan Kennedy and Katelyn Mascoto come to Cal State East Bay after leading the Comets to the 2008 Pacific Coast Conference championship. Kennedy was among the conference leaders in scoring and picked up All-America honors for her efforts.
A competitive and talented freshman class includes Australian utility Claire Pierce who helped the Australian Junior National Team to a seventh place finish at the 2009 Junior World Championships and a silver medal at the Australian Youth Olympic Festival, and notched five goals in the win over the alumni last week. Joining Pierce in the freshman class are utility Chelsie Bryan, from Alamo, driver Alex Gudenau from Rancho Cucamonga, goalie Emily Hucal from Simi Valley, and utility Kelsey Baldree from Irvine, who each led their high school teams to sectional playoff berths last year.
Pacific finished the 2009 season with a 9-25 record and are led by returning leading scorer and junior utility Dara Tawarahara. The Honolulu, Hawai'i native led the Tigers with 68 goals last year. UOP and Cal State East Bay's last meeting came on Feb. 7, 2009 in Stockton, where the Tigers came away with a 10-7 victory after outscoring the Pioneers 9-4 through the first three quarters. Pacific meets No. 3 Hawai'i in its tournament opener on Friday night.
No. 18 Santa Clara is coming off a season-opening, 6-5, triple-overtime loss to No. 15 UC Santa Barbara on Jan. 28. The Broncos came back from down two goals and held the Gauchos scoreless in the fourth to send the game into overtime. Last season, Santa Clara finished the year ranked 17th after reaching the first WWPA championship game in school history. The Pioneers and Broncos last met in the 2009 season opener with SCU notching an 18-12 victory. Santa Clara will take on San Jose State and No. 4 Cal on Saturday before meeting East Bay on Sunday.
Third-ranked Hawai'i opens the 2010 campaign at the Northern California Invitational, kicking the tournament off with a 7-5 victory over No. 15 UCSB, before facing Pacific on Friday night. The Rainbow Wahine finished last season ranked fourth after falling to USC in the national semifinals. Hawai'i welcomes back five of its seven starters from the 2009 season, including a pair of All-Americans in junior Leonie Van Der Molen and senior Dagmar Genee. Cal State East Bay Head Coach and former Hawai'i standout Lisa De Rossi-Cooper will face her alma mater for just the second time. The last time the two squads met was Feb. 5, 2004, when the Rainbow Wahine topped the Pioneers 14-2 in Hayward.
The Pioneers open the tournament with Pacific at 6 p.m. on Saturday. Sunday, East Bay will meet No. 18 Santa Clara at 3:30 p.m., followed by the matchup with No. 3 Hawai'i at 6 p.m. All matches will be played at Spieker Aquatics Complex on the Cal campus. More information about the tournament is available .