HAYWARD, Calif. — The Cal State East Bay water polo team travels south this weekend to compete in the sixth annual Posada Royale Invitational, hosted by Cal Lutheran. The Pioneers (4-7, 0-1 WWPA) have four non-conference games on their slate for the two-day event. They open the tournament against Whittier College in a 12:50 p.m. match-up at Oaks Christian School, before heading over to the Cal Lutheran campus to take on Azusa Pacific at 4:20 p.m. On Sunday, the Pioneers have the first game of the day at 8:10 a.m. against the host Regals. They close out the event by playing La Verne at 12:50 p.m. back at Oaks Christian.

WEEKLY RECAP
The Pioneers had just one game on the schedule last week, a road contest against the Fresno Pacific Sunbirds. They got off to a slow start as the teams were locked in a defensive battle early. At halftime, East Bay narrowly led by a score of 3-2. They found their groove in the second half, shutting out Fresno Pacific in the third quarter, and then scoring seven goals on the Sunbirds in the fourth. By the time the final horn blew, the Pioneers were in front comfortably, 13-4.

Junior Sara Hudyn matched her season high with six goals in the game, four of which came in the final period. Claire Pierce and Kate McAfee each netted three goals. For McAfee, it's her first hat trick of the season. Hollie Mickelson also scored a goal, the first of her Pioneer career. Mary Reardon got the start in the cage and turned in an impressive effort, setting a career high with 15 saves.

STILL STREAKING
The Pioneers and Fresno Pacific have now played each of the last five seasons, and with the victory, East Bay has now won eight straight meetings. The Sunbirds will have one more shot at the Pioneers to break the streak when they visit Hayward on Mar. 9.

LEADERBOARD WATCH
Hudyn continues to pace all scorers in the WWPA with 47 goals on the season. She has netted 16 more goals than the second-highest scorer. She's also 15th in the conference with 14 steals. Pierce ranks third on the conference scoring list with 30 goals. The pair has accounted for 69.3 percent of the East Bay's goals in 2013.

Pierce also currently sits fourth in the WWPA in steals (21) and sixth in assists (15). The senior has been arguably the best all-around player in the conference; she's the only one to rack up 30 goals, 20 steals, and 15 assists so far. This season, she has moved into first place on the all-time Pioneer career steal list and second place on the all-time assist rankings.

McAfee dished out three assists last Friday to go along with her hat trick. With 23 assists on the season, she now leads the WWPA despite playing fewer games than the next five highest-ranking players.

IN CONSIDERATION
For the first time this season, at least one other head coach considers the Pioneers a top-20 team nationally. In a poll dominated by Division I squads, East Bay received a vote for the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) National Top 20 this week. The Pioneers are one of just two unranked teams to receive votes and finished 10 points behind No. 20 Pacific, whom East Bay lost to 9-8 earlier this year.

WWPA STANDINGS
Much is still to be decided over the next several weeks, as only Santa Clara has played more than two official WWPA games so far.

Team	W-L	Pct.	WWPA
1. Loyola Marymount	9-5	.643	1-0
2. Santa Clara	6-7	.462	2-2
3. UC San Diego	5-7	.414	2-0
4. Sonoma State	6-9	.400	1-1
5. Cal State Monterey Bay	3-5	.375	0-2
6. Cal State East Bay	4-7	.364	0-1
7. Colorado State	2-6	.250	0-0
8. Cal State San Bernardino	1-12	.077	0-0

WATCHING WHITTIER
The Poets are off to a solid start, having won three in a row. They lost to Redlands to open the season, but have since beaten Fresno Pacific once and Cal State San Bernardino twice.

ABOUT AZUSA PACIFIC
The Cougars sandwiched wins over Fresno Pacific and Occidental (in triple-OT) around a nine-game losing streak, which included an 11-7 loss to East Bay on Feb. 1. APU has now dropped its past three, including losses to WWPA teams Santa Clara and Sonoma State. Alyssa Hess leads the Cougars with 18 goals on the season, and Taylor Whitney has netted 17.

SCOUTING CAL LUTHRAN
The Regals are still looking for their first win of 2013, though they have played a difficult schedule. Three of their five losses have been to top-20 teams, and they were narrowly defeated by Sonoma State, 9-8, in their last game. The Pioneers have won seven straight games over Cal Lutheran dating back to 2008.

LET'S MEET LA VERNE
The Leopards have only played two games this year, three weeks ago as part of their own tournament. They lost 14-11 to Pomona-Pitzer and 9-3 to Condordia in a doubleheader on Feb. 9. The Pioneers defeated La Verne 21-5 when the teams met last season.