HAYWARD, Calif. — After taking care of business with four victories last weekend at the Posada Royale Invitational in Thousands Oaks, the Pioneer water polo team returns home with a five-game winning streak. Cal State East Bay (8-7, 0-1 WWPA) has just one game on their schedule this week, a 1 p.m. showdown with Fresno Pacific on Saturday at Pioneer Pool.

WEEKEND RECAP
The Pioneers played a pair of doubleheaders at the Cal Lutheran tournament, starting with Whittier College and Azusa Pacific on Saturday afternoon. The team did not play its best water polo, particularly on offense. The first game was tied 4-4 in the third quarter, but junior Sara Hudyn scored two of her three goals in the fourth to lift East Bay to the 8-4 win over Whittier.

They jumped out to an 8-2 lead at halftime of the second game, but Azusa Pacific rallied with five goals in the third. Hudyn netted four of her five goals in the second half, helping the Pioneers stave off the Cougar comeback. Claire Pierce also had a hat trick in the 12-10 victory.

East Bay was much sharper on the second day of the tournament and played their best game of the weekend in the morning against the hosts, Cal Lutheran. Goalkeeper Marrina Nation allowed just two goals in the first two quarters and made five saves, as East Bay grabbed a 10-2 advantage at halftime and never looked back. Pierce led the way with five goals in the 15-6 win.

The final game of the weekend was an all-around team effort. Nation and Mary Reardon played one half each in the cage, and nine different Pioneers scored at least one goal. East Bay turned in yet another strong defensive effort, winning easily, 12-6, over La Verne.

WWPA STANDINGS
The Pioneers made a big move up the standings with a 4-0 weekend, but the only games that really matter are the official WWPA games. Only Santa Clara (4-2) and Sonoma State (2-2) have played more than half of their conference schedule, while East Bay still has six of its seven WWPA games remaining.

Team	W-L	Pct.	WWPA
1. Loyola Marymount	9-6	.600	1-1
2. Cal State East Bay	8-7	.533	0-1
3. Santa Clara	8-9	.471	4-2
4. Cal State Monterey Bay	4-5	.444	0-2
5. UC San Diego	6-8	.429	3-0
6. Sonoma State	6-10	.375	2-2
7. Colorado State	3-9	.250	1-1
8. Cal State San Bernardino	1-14	.067	0-1

STANDING OUT FROM THE CROWD
The Pioneers continue to top the conference statistical rankings, led by outstanding seasons from Pierce and Hudyn. The latter leads the WWPA with 60 goals in 15 games. Hudyn has 20 more goals than the second-place player, who happens to be Pierce, her teammate. She has nearly twice as many as the players in third place with 31. To put it another way, Hudyn is averaging 4.0 goals per game; no one else in the conference averages more than 2.6.

Not to be outdone, Pierce has been arguably the best all-around player in the WWPA. She's second in goals (40), fifth in assists (20), and she leads the conference in steals (33). She's the only player to top 30 goals, 20 steals, and 20 assists on the season.

The Pioneers actually have five of the top-20 players on the WWPA assists leaderboard, led by Kate McAfee, who paces the conference with 28 to go along with 11 goals. Also among the five is fellow junior Allison Zell, the Pioneers' third-leading scorer. She ranks top-30 in goals (14), top-20 in steals (15), and top-10 in assists (14) in her first season as a Pioneer.

Julia Charlesworth is fifth on the team with nine goals, despite missing a couple games with injury. Newcomers Casey Rushforth (five goals) and Simonne Call (four goals) have each posted double figures in assists in this season with 10 and 11, respectively. Finally, Nation ranks third in the WWPA with 116 saves and Reardon is up to ninth place with 50 stops. Both cage-minders have posted more saves than goals allowed.

TOP 21 IN THE NATION
For the second straight week, East Bay received a vote in the National Women's Collegiate Top-20 poll. They're in a tie for the 21st position along with Harvard and Wagner, seven points behind No. 20 Pacific in a list dominated by Division I programs.

FINAL TUNE-UP
Saturday's game against Fresno Pacific will be East Bay's last con-conference game before playing three straight official WWPA contests. After a visit to Sonoma State next weekend, the Pioneers will travel south to Los Angeles for two conference games and two matchups with top-20 opponents in the LMU tournament.

SCOUTING THE SUNBIRDS
Fresno Pacific has lost 11 in a row since beating CSU San Bernardino in late January. They also participated in the Posada Royale Invite last week, losing 12-7 to Claremont Mudd-Scripps, 17-5 to Cal Baptist, 3-2 to La Verne, and 8-4 to Chapman. The Pioneers defeated the Cougars 13-4 when the teams met a few weeks ago in Clovis. Hudyn notched six goals in the win, and Pierce and McAfee added three each. East Bay has now won eight games in a row against FPU.