Cuesta Men's and Women's Water Polo teams both hit the road to open their 2024 campaigns and returned to SLO with a pair of perfect starts. Both teams travelled North, the men to Merced and the women to Marin, to face the best teams in the region.
The men, preseason ranked #3, set the tone for the weekend in their season debut by obliterating San Joaquin Delta, 29-3. The Cougars' offensive onslaught boasted just one tally more than the team's 2023 opener, a 28-8 win over Merced, it also marked the program's highest scoring game since posting 30 goals on Miramar in 2021. The Cougars offense slowed a bit over the rest of the weekend as they scored only 60 goals across their next three games and cruised to the tournament title. Cuesta closed out Friday's competition with a win over Diablo Valley, 21-8, and crushed both Modesto, 19-9, and host Merced, 20-4, to close the tournament on Saturday. The Cougars are now 4-0 but have a three-week gap in their schedule, until September 20. On that date, Cuesta shall travel to Walnut for the Mt San Antonio Tournament on September 20-21
The women did not light-up the scoreboard like the men, but did sweep the competition at the season-opening Marin Tournament by winning each game by at least ten goals. The Cougars faced host Marin in the tournament opener and quickly put the Mariners out to sea in a 13-2 victory. They then closed the first day with a win over American River, 18-3, and then opened Saturday's play by beating Santa Rosa by an identical score, 18-3. The Cougars wrapped up the tournament title with their closest game of the weekend against Modesto, 14-4. Freshmen Ryder Gangemi and Amelia Braun paced the Cougars' offense with a team-leading 12 and 11 goals, respectively, while all-WSC Goaltender Aubrie Kirkby Tatro kept her nets clean while making 32 saves against only 17 goals. The women shall run right back into the action this weekend when they host the 10-team Central Coast Women's Water Polo Tournament this Friday and Saturday. Seven of the ten teams in the tournament were playoff teams in 2023, including three of the 2023 State Final Four teams- Santa Barbara, Riverside and West Valley. Cuesta also hosts Golden West on Thursday (2:30) in a pre-tournament game. The Cougars, who are not willing to back down to anyone, and are set to open their tournament against the best. On Friday, they open the day with a Western State Conference game against defending CCCAA State Champion Santa Barbara (9:10) and close the day against 2024 CCCAA State Runner-up Riverside (3 PM). On Saturday, the road looks just slightly better for the Cougars, who are set to face Fullerton (11:40) and Diablo Valley (4:20
