HAYWARD, Calif. -- In between a five-game trip to San Diego last weekend and a four-game trip down to Thousand Oaks next weekend, the Cal State East Bay women's water polo team has a relatively quite weekend upcoming with just one contest on the slate as part of the 2018 UC Davis Aggie Shootout.

The Pioneers will take on Division I squad Fresno State in the second game of the tournament at Schaal Aquatics Center at 11:00 a.m.

East Bay has cut its teeth on extremely tough competition thus far in the first half the season. The team has already battled five teams ranked in the top 20 nationally, as well as No. 8 Pacific in an exhibition game. 

This past weekend, they fell in a Western Water Polo Association (WWPA) showdown at No. 13 UC San Diego on Friday. The following day, they were defeated by No. 6 Arizona State and No. 11 Loyola Marymount to open the Triton Invitational. The Pioneers picked up a big win, 11-8, over Iona Sunday morning before dropping an extremely tight match, 7-6, to Santa Clara in the afternoon.

Sophomore All-American Auriel Bill has been outstanding so far to lead the Pioneers. After scoring eight goals down in La Jolla, she leads the team for the season in goals (15), assists (13), and steals (12). Bill leads all WWPA players with 28 total points through eight games. 

Briana Ruiz's 10 steals this year also rank among the top 10 in the conference. Maci Taylor is CSUEB's second-leading scorer with seven goals, while newcomers Adrien Van Dyke, Ivanna Anderson, and Brittany Smith have six each. Goalkeeper Makenna Nation ranks third in the WWPA with 43 saves. 

Fresno State has also played a difficult schedule so far, with loses to top-20 teams Indiana, UC Santa Barbara, San Jose State, UC Davis, Stanford, and Cal, as well as victories over No. 19 Cal State Northridge and Fresno Pacific. Callie Woodruff is the Bulldogs' leading scorer with 15 goals in eight games, followed by Claire Schade (10 goals, eight steals) and Emily Nicholson (10 goals, eight steals).