The Mountie’s women’s water polo team faced off against the Chaffey Panthers in the pool on Sept. 20.
With the Panthers having a really close win over Cerritos earlier in the season, the Mounties were prepared for a tough battle.
From the start of the game, the Mounties were showcasing good communication with one another inside and outside of the pool. With just a few minutes into the game, sophomore driver Jayde Gutierrez (3) scored the first goal of the game.
Not too long after the first goal was fired, freshman utility Gianna Gomez (6) scored another goal. Just 20 seconds later, another goal was made by sophomore 2-meter Elizebeth Chong (4).
With just a little over two minutes left in the first quarter, four more goals were scored. It started off with Gutierrez (3) scoring twice making them her second and third goals of the game. Then quickly after freshman attacker Laila Topinio (14) wanted to get in on the action, she made an impressive goal with 1:09 left in the quarter. Finally the last goal of the quarter was scored by Gomez (6) making it her second of the game.
Throughout the first quarter, sophomore goalie Kelly Jackson (1) made a total of three impressive blocks. The score at the end of the quarter was 8-0.
The second quarter started off strong with Chong (4) quickly scoring within the first few seconds. Gutierrez (3) added to her list of goals by scoring another with freshman attacker Viviana Gil (10) scoring one quickly after that.
With 3:40 remaining in the second quarter freshman attacker Janel Ramirez (7) scored her first goal of the game after coming back from an exclusion just 20 seconds prior.
Two more goals were made by the Mounties before the Panthers would score their first goal this game. One goal was scored by Gil and the other by Gutierrez.
With 1:35 left in the second quarter Gomez (6) got an exclusion making the Mounties down one player. During this time, the Panthers used this as an opportunity to score their first goal of the game.
For the rest of the quarter, the Mounties and the Panthers went back and forth. In response to the Panther’s goal, Chong (4) scored for the third time in the game. The Panthers scored their second goal with 24 seconds left, and with only 7 seconds left before halftime, Boiarsky fired back with the last goal of the quarter.
The score at halftime was 16-2
The third quarter got underway with two back to back goals scored by sophomore driver Brianna Solis (2).
The next goal that was made was by the Panthers, but the Mounties shot back with two goals. Ramirez (7) scored the first of the two and sophomore driver Shauna Mercado (11) scored her first time in the game which was also the last of the third quarter.
The score at the end of the third quarter was 20-3.
The final quarter of the game started off slow for the Mounties with the Panthers scoring for the fourth time this game. Mounties scored two more times in the final quarter, one by (12) and the other by freshman utility Salma Valle (5).
The Panthers scored the last two goals of the game, but had to work hard for them. Bowen (1A) put pressure on the Panthers during the last quarter and made a handful of impressive blocks.
After the game, sophomore Shauna Mercado (11) mentioned that the game overall went really well for the team. “We improved a lot on communication and going forward we will continue to grow as a unit,” Mercado said.
The final score of the game was 22-6. Although there were some alternating moments between the Panthers and the Mounties, the Mounties dominated this game.
According to head coach Chris Jackson, this game went surprisingly well since the Mounties were expecting more of a battle from the Panthers.
“Our goal is to always be in the championship game and to be conference champions,” Jackson said.
The next games for women’s water polo is this weekend on Sept. 22-23. They will be playing a tournament that will take place at Mt. SAC.
