Score Sheet: #5 Arizona State 16, #25 CSUEB 5
Score Sheet: #21 Marist 6, #25 CSUEB 4

LA JOLLA, Calif. -- The 25th-ranked Cal State East Bay water polo team dropped a pair of tough games on the first day of the Triton Invitational, hosted by UC San Diego at Canyonview Aquatic Center. 

The Pioneers fell 16-5 at the hands of No. 5 Arizona State in the morning match, then lost a heartbreaker to No. 21 Marist by a final of 6-4 in the afternoon contest.

With a quick turnaround after taking on No. 19 UCSD in a conference game Friday evening, East Bay opened the tournament Saturday morning with a hard-fought effort against an extremely talented Sun Devil squad.

ASU jumped out quickly with five goals in the first quarter to go along with tremendous defense. Senior Tori Dettloff finally got the Pioneers on the board less than an minute into the second. But the Sun Devils quickly answered back, netting four more goals in less than three minutes. 

Katelyn Clark found the back of the cage for the Pioneers with 1:19 remaining in the half, giving the Pioneers a little momentum heading into halftime, but they still trailed 10-2.

ASU scored the first two goals of the third quarter to extend their lead to double digits. Then Sun Devil Taylor Bertrand was called for an exclusion foul, and the Pioneers capitalized on a goal by Sabrina Hatzer.

The Pioneers repeated that scoring success three minutes later. After an ASU exclusion and a timeout by head coach Lisa Cooper, Jenn Lightbody beat the keeper for the fourth East Bay goal.

Senior Casey Rushforth scored her third point of the morning with a fourth-quarter goal, but the Sun Devils added a pair of insurance scores to seal the 16-5 win.

Rushforth had a pair of assists to lead the Pioneers. Fellow senior Taylor Cross notched team highs with two steals and three ejections drawn, but the CSUEB's top goal scorer was shut out on five attempts.

Nikki Vaughn got the start in the cage and tallied a pair of saves. Freshman Makenna Nation came in for the second half and racked up eight saves, her highest total of the season.

The Pioneers had a fiarly long break in between games, during which time 21st-ranked Marist College was defeated by No. 11 UC Santa Barbara. That matched up Marist with Cal State East Bay in the bracket's second round for a 4 p.m. game.

As anticipated, it was an extremely tight contest with stellar defensive play throughout. The Pioneers only led for two minutes of game time, thanks to the game's first goal. Less than two minutes into the first, Martist's Susan Cantoni was excluded, and Lightbody took advantage immediately with her second goal of the day. However Marist answered back, scoring twice before the end of the quarter to grab the lead. 

Dettloff tied it up at 2-2 with a goal 2:20 into what became an eventful second quarter. Marist grabbed the lead back a minute and a half later, but Sabrina Hatzer answered 30 seconds later for East Bay to tie the score yet again.

Cross netted her first goal of the tournament with 1:14 remaining before halftime to give the Pioneers a 4-3 advantage. But unfortunately the lead was short-lived. Rushforth was called for an exclusion with 0:57 left, and Marist cashed in to tie the game 4-4 heading into halftime.

The latter half of the game was a frustrating sequence for the Pioneer offense. They were held scoreless through the third and fourth quarters. Meanwhile, Marist scored a 6-on-5 goal in each period to escape with a narrow 6-4 win. 

Rushforth assisted on three of East Bay's four goals, giving the Aussie senior a team-high six points in the doubleheader.

Dettloff tallied three steals to lead the team against Marist, and Cross drew two of the five exclusions called on the Red Foxes. 

Vaughn turned in a strong effort on the cage, finishing with nine saves in the loss.

The Pioneers have two more games on the docket for Sunday at the Triton Invitational. They kick off Valentine's Day with a re-match of last week's game against Santa Clara at 9:20 a.m. East Bay will play its final match of the weekend at either 1:20 or 2:40 p.m. against either Sonoma State or Cal State Northridge.