Box score

HAYWARD, Calif. – On the strength of a five-goal third quarter, the Cal State East Bay water polo team topped Sonoma State, 14-8, for its first win of the season against a Western Water Polo Association opponent on Friday afternoon at Pioneer Pool. The Pioneers (2-1) took advantage of a tiring Sonoma squad to out-score the Seawolves 7-3 in the final two periods.

Freshman utility Sarah Grunberger led all players with four goals, including two in an impressive third quarter for the Pioneers. Juniors Erica Crain and Carly Clark added three goals apiece for East Bay, while senior Tristan Kennedy-Donohue put away a pair and Claire Pierce and Liz Warren each posted one score. In goal, junior Jayme Pekarske made a season-high 12 saves and added three assists on the day.

Sonoma State's Natalie Del Carlo, Kyleigh Shea and Bridgette Souza each posted two goals to lead the Seawolves. Taylor Bosso made eight stops in the cage for SSU.

In a game that saw 23 personal fouls, the Pioneers drew 14 exclusions and one penalty, with the teams combining for eight exclusions in the first period alone. In between those fouls, the Pioneers opened up an early 4-1 lead thanks to goals from Pierce, Clark, Crain and Grunberger. The Seawolves closed the gap before the end of the quarter, however, putting away back-to-back goals to end the period trailing East Bay, 4-3.

Sonoma State continued its scoring streak to start the second period, getting a player-advantage goal from Shea just two seconds into the quarter to tie the game at four goals apiece. Shea was at it again less than two minutes later, giving the Seawolves their first lead of the game at 5-4 with 6:13 left to play in the half. East Bay responded, though, getting a score from Kennedy-Donohue to knot the game at five before regaining the lead on Grunberger's second of the game. From there, the Pioneers would never trail again, adding their third straight score, this time from Crain, with 3:05 left in the second, to take a 7-5 lead into the half.

Though Sonoma State put away another pair of goals in the third quarter, East Bay never let go of momentum, putting up five goals, including a pair from Grunberger, in the period. After the Sydney, Australia native opened the second half with a pair to put the Pioneers up 9-5, Crain and Clark finished out the period with a goal apiece to give CSUEB a 12-7 advantage heading into the final quarter.

A low-scoring fourth period saw the Pioneers open a six-goal lead, 13-7, on a score from Kennedy-Donohue midway through the quarter, before the Seawolves answered with their only goal of the period to cut the lead back to five. Clark capped the scoring for East Bay with a goal in the final minute to give the Pioneers their final 14-8 advantage.

Cal State East Bay is back in action on Saturday when it hits the road to meet Pacific, its second Division I opponent of the 2011 campaign. The Pioneers and Tigers are set to get underway at 12 p.m. at the Chris Kjeldsen Pool Complex in Stockton.

GAME SUMMARY

	1	2	3	4	Final
Sonoma State	3	2	2	1	8
Cal State East Bay	4	3	5	2	14

GOALS

SSU: Del Carlo 2, Shea 2, Souza 2, Stansfield, Albers
CSUEB: Grunberger 4, Clark 3, Crain 3, Kennedy-Donohue 2, Pierce, Warren

SAVES

SSU: Basso 8
CSUEB: Pekarske 12