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HAYWARD, Calif. – The Cal State East Bay water polo team made the most of Senior Night at Pioneer Pool, picking up their eighth WWPA win of the season with an 18-13 victory over Cal State San Bernardino on Friday night. The Pioneers (15-9) scored 12 goals in the first half and, despite being out-scored 9-6 in the second half, held on for the win to open a weekend that will feature five games against conference opponents, including four at The Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara. The win also gave East Bay its first undefeated home campaign in program history.

Though the Coyotes got out to an early 2-1 lead, the Pioneers responded with four straight goals to take a 5-2 lead though the end of the first quarter. East Bay got the tying goal from Claire Pierce in a 6-on-5 situation to pull the Pioneers even at 2-2. Pierce scored again just over 20 seconds later to give East Bay its first lead of the day, 3-2, with 2:07 left in the first quarter. The Pioneers got another pair back-to-back from Carly Clark and Michelle Carroll to take a 5-2 lead with just over a minute remaining in the first period. Although East Bay was penalized with an ejection, it fought off the advantage for Cal State San Bernardino to finish the first quarter with a 5-2 advantage.

East Bay kicked off the second half with a goal from senior Ariel Noriega to take a 6-2 lead with 7:39 to play in the half. Sara Hudyn made it a 7-2 game with her 6-on-5 goal with 6:40 to play in the second quarter. Though the Coyotes pulled back within four at 7-3, East Bay regained the four-goal lead with a 6-on-5 score from Pierce to take an 8-3 advantage with 2:22 left in the half. The Coyotes responded with their second goal of the quarter to cut the lead to 8-4 before the Pioneers answered with four consecutive goals to finish the half. First Pierce scored her second player-advantage score of the period before Sophie Armstrong added another and both Meaghan Paschall and Erica Crain scored to make it a 12-4 game at the half.

The Coyotes came storming back in the second half, but not before giving up at nine-goal lead thanks to a Carly Clark goal to open the second half. Cal State San Bernardino scored its first goal of the second half with 7:22 left in the third quarter to cut the East Bay lead to eight 13-5, and then again in the third minute of the period to cut the East Bay advantage to just seven, 13-6, with 5:04 left to play in the third period. The Pioneers answered with back-to-back goals from Hudyn and Clark to take a 15-6 lead. Though the Coyotes out-scored  East Bay 2-1 over the final three minutes of the quarter, the Pioneers took a 16-8 lead in to the final period thanks to another 6-on-5 goal from Pierce.

Although Cal State San Bernardino out-scored East Bay 5-2 in the final frame, the Pioneers held onto their lead thanks to fourth-quarter goals from Hudyn and Pierce to clinch the 18-13 win.

Jayme Pekarske and Marrina Nation combined to post six saves in the win, the first in a weekend of five WWPA contests for the Pioneers. Pierce finished with six goals in the win, while both Crain and Hudyn tallied three goals apiece. Clark posted two goals, while Noriega, Paschall, Armstrong and Carroll each notched a goal apiece in the victory.

Cal State East Bay will continue its five-game weekend on Saturday, when it travels to the South Bay for the first day of The Bronco Invitational on Saturday. The Pioneers are set to take on WWPA opponents No. 19 UC San Diego to open the tournament at 9:15 a.m. before meeting conference foe Cal State Monterey Bay in Santa Clara at 1 p.m.