HAYWARD, Calif. — This weekend, the Pioneer water polo team makes its second trip of the season to Fresno to compete in the first annual CCAA Invitational Tournament, hosted by Fresno Pacific. The seven-team field includes the five Division II WWPA schools, as well as Fresno Pacific and Azusa Pacific. Third-seeded Cal State East Bay (14-14, 2-5 WWPA) will take on sixth-seeded Cal State San Bernardino in the first round on Saturday morning at 10:15 a.m. The semi-finals are scheduled for Saturday evening, with the fifth-place, third-place, and championship games set for Sunday.

WEEKEND RECAP
The Pioneer had a full slate of games last week, and they started things off right with a 13-8 win over Colorado State in their final home game of the year on Friday. Claire Pierce celebrated her 'Senior Day' by setting a season high with seven goals.

On Saturday, East Bay has one of its most satisfying doubleheaders of the year on the first day of the Bronco Invitational in Santa Clara. They snapped a two-game losing streak to Sonoma State with a 10-8 win over the Seawolves in the morning. The Pioneers came back in the afternoon and edged out the hosts Santa Clara by a score of 9-8. Sara Hudyn led the way with six goals, and Allison Zell netted a buzzer-beating game-winner with one second left in regulation.

On Sunday, East Bay took on a pair of top-20 teams. Pierce notched a hat trick in the team's 16-5 loss to No. 8 Hawaii in the early game. The tournament finale pitted them against No. 17 UC San Diego, and it also doubled as the final conference game for the Pioneers. East Bay gave the Tritons a good battle and kept the score tight the entire game, but ultimately fell short 12-10. Pierce and Hudyn scored four goals apiece.

SHARING THE HONORS
Pierce and Hudyn have been a dynamic scoring duo for the Pioneers this season. The latter leads the WWPA with 95 goals on the season, while the former ranks third with 75 goals. Pierce also ranks fifth in the conference with 51 steals. Hudyn, meanwhile, already has the second-highest scoring season in Pioneer history, and she needs 12 more goals in 2013 to set a new record.

Both are having outstanding seasons, but the pair was finally recognized this week with their first KAP7 WWPA Co-Player of the Week honors of the year. Pierce and Hudyn scored 14 goals each last weekend, leading East Bay to a 3-2 record. They share the award with UCSD's Sarah Lizotte, who helped the Tritons go 4-0 at the Bronco Invite. This is the first time a Pioneer has won the WWPA's weekly award in 2013.

HOW CAN I ASSIST YOU?
Junior Kate McAfee is also having a superlative season for the Pioneers and posted 10 more assists over the weekend. She leads the conference with 51 assists, which also ranks as the fifth-best season in program history. The Australia native has racked up 95 assists for her career, moving her into ninth place all-time at CSUEB.

As a team, the Pioneers lead the conference averaging 7.74 assists per game. They have six players who rank in the top-30 in the WWPA individually.

WWPA STANDINGS
The WWPA seeding is all but finalized heading into the final weekend before the conference championships. At 2-5, the Pioneers will be slotted in the No. 7 position, which will likely match them up with No. 11 LMU in the first round.

TEAM	WWPA W-L	Overall W-L	Pct.
1. #17 UC San Diego	6-0	18-12	.600
2. #11 Loyola Marymount	6-1	17-9	.654
3. Santa Clara	5-2	14-15	.483
4. Colorado State	3-4	8-19	.296
5. Sonoma State	3-4	10-16	.385
6. Cal State Monterey Bay	2-5	8-19	.296
7. Cal State East Bay	2-5	14-14	.500
8. Cal State San Bernardino	0-6	6-23	.207

SCOUTING SAN BERNARDINO
The Coyotes are winless in WWPA play and have dropped their last three games since the Pioneers beat them 14-12 at the LMU invitational. Misty Vu is the WWPA's second-leading scorer with 83 goals and ranks sixth with 50 steals. Mary Jane Cooney is fourth in the WWPA with 39 assists. Other tops players for CSUSB are Alison Glaser (25 goals, 22 assists, 48 steals) and Katie Braun (33 goals, 25 steals). Goalkeeper Kelsey Purkiss has 199 saves in 24 games. East Bay has won five straight games over the Coyotes.

Visit the CCAA Invitational Homepage to follow all the action this weekend, and be sure to follow @CSUEBathletics on Twitter for live updates.