HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay water polo team hits the road on Friday for its only game of the week, a 1 p.m. showdown with the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds. The Pioneers (3-7, 0-1 WWPA) will look to get back in the win column against an FPU squad that has lost five straight. Tomorrow's game will be played at Clovis East High School in Fresno.

WEEKEND RECAP
East Bay posted a 1-1 record for the weekend and are now 2-2 this year at Pioneer Pool. They started the weekend strong with a 14-7 victory over Cal State Monterey Bay on Friday. The Pioneers tallied multiple goals in all four quarters, with three players handling the scoring. Claire Pierce set a season high with six goals, and Sara Hudyn added five. Rita Ortega posted the first hat trick of her Pioneer career, netting three goals. Goalkeeper Marrina Nation had 13 saves in the win.

The following day, East Bay hosted Santa Clara for their first official WWPA game of the season. It was an extremely tight game, with the score tied 4-4 going into halftime. The Pioneers grabbed an 8-5 lead early in the fourth quarter, but the Broncos mounted a comeback. With Pierce, Hudyn, Kate McAfee, and Casey Rushforth all playing with two ejections for the entire period, Santa Clara netted four straight goals to claim the narrow 9-8 win. Hudyn scored five more goals for East Bay in the loss, and Allison Zell also found the back of the cage twice.

WWPA STANDINGS
The Pioneers still have six of their seven WWPA games remaining on the schedule, but first they have a chance to tune up with a few non-conference matchups over the next couple weeks.

Team	W-L	Pct.	WWPA
1. Loyola Marymount	6-4	.600	1-0
2. UC San Diego	4-4	.500	2-0
3. Cal State Monterey Bay	3-5	.375	0-2
4. Santa Clara	4-7	.364	2-2
5. Sonoma State	5-9	.357	1-1
6. Cal State East Bay	3-7	.300	0-1
7. Colorado State	2-6	.250	0-0
8. Cal State San Bernardino	1-12	.077	0-0

TOPPING THE LEADERBOARD
East Bay once again finds itself with players at the top of the leaderboards in every major stat category. With 10 goals over the weekend, Hudyn remains far-and-away the top scorer in the conference. Her 41 goals in 10 games are 10 more than the next-best scorer. Pierce ranks third in the WWPA with 27 goals herself. They are two of just four players in the WWPA to top 20 goals so far.

For the third straight week, McAfee is the conference leader in assists. She's the only player to reach 20 assists this year. Pierce ranks third in that category, as well, posting 14 helpers. Zell also ranks in the top-20 with eight assists.

Pierce is currently third in the WWPA with 21 steals, making her the only player to rank in the top-three in goals, assists, and steals. She's one of five players in the conference to post double figures in all three stat categories, and of those five, she has the most goals and the most steals.

Nation notched 25 saves in the two games this weekend, giving her 102 for the season, which ranks her second in the conference. She's eight saves behind Sonoma State's Ariel Lockshaw, but the Pioneer sophomore has had four fewer games to do it. Nation leads the WWPA in saves per game, and she's the only goalie in the top-three to post more saves than goals allowed. 

FAVORABLE TRENDS
East Bay heads down to Fresno tomorrow afternoon with history on their side. This will be the fifth straight season the Pioneers have played Fresno Pacific, and the fourth straight season that the teams will play twice (one home game each). Since 2009, East Bay is 7-0 against the Sunbirds. Last year the Pioneers won 15-4 in Hayward, and then beat FPU 12-6 on the road the following week.

SCOUTING THE SUNBIRDS
Fresno Pacific is in search of its first victory since beating Cal State San Bernardino 9-6 on Jan. 26, but this will also be the first home game for the Sunbirds at Clovis East HS since that day. FPU has suffered losses to Azusa Pacific, Whitter, Santa Clara, the aforementioned Coyotes (in a rematch), and Cal State Monterey Bay (twice). The Sunbirds were swept in a tough triple-header last Saturday in San Bernardino. In the three games, Dani Mortimer and Samantha Clark led the team with four goals each, while Jennifer Cobb and Nia Apodaca scored three apiece.