HAYWARD, Calif. -- After going up against four Division I opponents last week in San Diego at the Triton Invitational, the Cal State East Bay water polo team heads back down south this weekend to take on the best that Division III has to offer.

The Pioneers (3-3) will play four matches over two days at the Bulldog Invitational, hosted by the University of Redlands. Saturday afternoon, they play Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 2:50 p.m., followed by Pomona-Pitzer at 5:30 p.m. The following morning they take on the University of Toronto at 9:30 a.m., then close out the tournament against Redlands at noon.

East Bay is coming off a road trip in which they fell to No. 6 UC Irvine, No. 20 UC San Diego, and No. 22 San Diego State. Their other game in La Jolla was an 8-7 victory over Santa Clara, the team's second one-goal win against the Broncos in the young season.

The Pioneers were led last weekend by their Saskatchewanian duo of Auriel Bill and Adrien Van Dyke. Bill notched a hat trick in the win over SCU, and for the weekend she led the team with five goals, five assists, five steals, and nine drawn ejections. Van Dyke tallied four goals and four assists, three of which came against Santa Clara.

While those two have accounted for the majority of East Bay's scoring this season, the team has also felt a big impact from the addition of Payton Bosque, who joined the squad in January after competing last year for No. 5 ranked Hawaii. The sophomore has four goals and three assists, tying her for third on the team in total points with junior Briana Ruiz.

All three goalkeepers saw action at the Triton Invite, giving them a chance for reps against some of the best field players in the country. Makenna Nation's performance against Santa Clara stood out, as the senior notched 10 saves and three steals in the narrow victory. 

This will be CSUEB's first time competing in the Redlands Invitational, but their opponents are familiar foes dating back a decade to East Bay's DIII days. Below is a brief outlook on each squad.

CLAREMONT-MUDD-SCRIPPS
The Athenas are the No. 3 ranked team in Division III and opened their season with losses to a pair of Division I teams -- a 23-0 defeat to No. 1 USC and a hard-fought 10-6 loss at No. 24 Cal Baptist. Addison Duval and Amelia Ayala each had two goals for CMS against the Lancers.

POMONA-PITZER
The Sagehens are the top-ranked Division III program in the nation and will present a formidable test. Their only losses are to nationally-ranked varsity programs, including narrows defeats at the hands of Azusa Pacifc (9-6) and San Diego State (6-5). They also earned an 8-6 win over Santa Clara in their most recent match. The Pioneers and Pomona-Pitzer last met in 2016, with East Bay notching a nail-biting 7-6 win.

TORONTO
The Toronto Varsity Blues played their first game of 2019 on Thursday against SDSU after completing a full Fall schedule in their Canadian league. Cal State East Bay toppled them last year at Cal Lutheran's tournament by a score of 11-6, led by Bill's hat trick.

REDLANDS
The Pioneers played Redlands last season as well, earning a 16-7 win on the road in the first meeting between the two teams of the WWPA era. The Bulldogs dropped their first two matches of the year at home to No. 21 CSUN and No. 24 CBU earlier this week.