HAYWARD, Calif. -- If you're a fan of water polo, Pioneer Pool is the place to be over the next week. The Cal State East Bay women's team has a tremendous opportunity in front of it, as the Pioneers will play exhibition scrimmage games against the Chinese National Team each of the next two Thursdays -- Mar. 9 and 16 -- at 10:45 a.m.

Admission is free, and it looks to be a beautiful morning on the pool deck tomorrow. All are invited to come watch some world class water polo. This will be the second time in recent years that Pioneer water polo has had the privilege to represent Cal State East Bay against international competition. In January of 2015, they hosted the Brazilian National Team for a similar exhibition.

The Pioneers will then return to their regular season schedule on Saturday, when they welcome in Santa Clara for a 12:00 p.m. game. It will be the second meeting of the season between the Pioneers and Broncos. SCU was victorious back on Feb. 4 in Santa Clara, winning a tight, low-scoring game by a final of 6-4.

East Bay has a record of 8-3 since that loss, with all three defeats coming to teams ranked in the top-25 nationally. Most recently, they swept a road trip to Cal Lutheran's Tina Finali Invitational, posting a perfect 5-0 record. 

Freshman Auriel Bill was named Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) Player of the Week last week after tallying 12 goals, 10 assists, nine steals, and seven drawn ejections during the road trip. She's the first Pioneer to capture the WWPA's weekly honor this season.

Bill has been outstanding in her rookie season, leading the Pioneers in every major stat category for field players. Heading into this week, she ranks third in the WWPA in assists per game and points per game, and seventh in goals per game.

Goalkeeping has also been an area of strength for CSUEB. Senior Nikki Vaughan leads the conference by a wide margin in save percentage (.549). She's also second in the WWPA in goals against average (8.64) and saves per game (8.23). Sophomore Makenna Nation was also been impressive, seeing action in seven of the team's 14 games thus far. She ranks fourth in fourth in the conference in save percentage (.478), and sixth in saves (33) and goals against average (10.11).

Santa Clara comes into Hayward having dropped five straight contests to nationally ranked teams. All four of their wins this year are against WWPA teams (2-0 vs. Cal State Monterey Bay, 1-1 vs. Sonoma State, 1-0 vs. CSUEB). Hannah Buck is the Broncos' top scorer, while Cathy Cantoni leads the team in assists.