Cuesta Women's Water Polo had a long Friday with losses against #2 Santa Barbara and #3 Fullerton but hoped to bounce back on the second day of their 22nd Mechanics Bank Invitational. The Cougars started the day right by upsetting #15 Sierra in their morning game. The Cougars battled the Wolverines into triple-overtime, before Freshman Driver Makayla Hermesch (pict-R) slammed home a penalty shot to clinch the upset-victory, 10-9. Unfortunately, the Cougars three-extra periods in the morning game came back to haunt them in their tournament finale with American River. In the first six minutes of the game, the Beavers jumped to a 6-1 lead over the exhausted Cougars and, while the Cougars did get their offense in gear, they were never able to get the margin closer than two goals. Freshman Goaltender Hanna Bonham (pict-L) enjoyed a big day in the nets. She tied her season-high with ten saves against Sierra and then fought off the Beavers' attack with a career-high 16 saves in the tournament finale.
Returning Freshman Center Anna Kreowski led the Cougars with 11 goals on the day and remains the State leader with 71 goals on the season. The Cougars have 13 games left on their regular season schedule and she is currently just 29 goals short of the school scoring record of 100, which was set in 2012 by Shanae Lauridsen and tied by current Cuesta Head Coach Rachel Gruetzmacher in 2013. Returning Freshman Chloe Porter, the Cougars' facilitator in the tank, made the team go this weekend. She leads the State with 32 fouls drawn and ranks near the State's Top 10 with 26 assists (#7) and 27 steals (#11), while also complimenting Kreowski on offense. Her 25 goals rank 29th in the State.
The Cougars, currently 6-8 overall, will get a couple of days to wind down early next week but play a Western State Conference twinbill at Citrus College. They shall play both Santa Monica (11:20) and the host Owls (1:40) in Glendora on Thursday. The Cougars shall return to the "Pride of the Foothills" the following week for the Citrus Tournament on October 14 and 15.
7:00AM #6 Riverside 10, #5 Long Beach 6
8:10AM #3 Fullerton 15, American River 4
9:20AM Cuesta 10, #15 Sierra 9 SD
10:30AM #2 Santa Barbara 12, #5 Long Beach 6
11:40AM #6 Riverside 21, Modesto 6
12:50PM #2 Santa Barbara 12, #15 Sierra 4
2:00PM American River 14, Cuesta 9
3:10PM #3 Fullerton 19, Modesto 4
