Box Scores: #14 Princeton 12, CSUEB 7  |  Pomona-Pitzer 13, CSUEB 12 (2OT)

LOS ANGELES -- The Cal State East Bay water polo team fought hard against two very tough opponents to open the LMU Invitational on Friday, but came out on the losing end of both contests. 

The Pioneers jumped out to an early lead over No. 14 Princeton in the tournament opener before the Tigers rallied back for a 12-7 win. CSUEB then played its second extremely tight game of the season against Pomona-Pitzer, and it took two overtime periods before the Sagehens finally won on a sudden-death goal. 

East Bay entered the morning contest against Princeton having never beaten a team as highly-ranked as the Tigers are this week, but the Pioneers had an upset on their minds in the first quarter. CSUEB came out firing and scored five goals in the first six minutes. 

The Pioneers drew an exclusion on the first possession and Tahnee Trew converted the power play to open the scoring. After Princeton evened it at 1-1, Brittany Smith came back down the tank and scored to put the Pioneers back ahead. Powerplay goals by Payton Bosque and Auriel Bill, as well as another score by Smith, forced the Tigers to take a timeout with East Bay leading 5-2.

Unfortunately, Princeton took over after that. They scored twice before the end of the first quarter, then out-scored East Bay 4-0 in the second period to take the lead heading into halftime. Three more unanswered goals in the third quarter essentially put the game out of reach.

Meghan Hayward got in the scoresheet for the Pioneers in the fourth quarter, and Smith netted the team's last goal to notch a hat trick.

The second game of the day featured a much tighter finish, but as a result, the loss was even more heartbreaking for the Pioneers. They had already faced Pomona-Pitzer once this year and the Sagehens prevailed narrowly, 11-9. This matchup exceeded the first in terms of drama, as neither team led by more than two goals at any point. 

The Pioneers once again got off to a hot start, with Auriel Bill securing a hat trick before the end of the first quarter. Maci Taylor scored to open the second, putting East Bay up 4-2. Pomona-Pitzer answered with two goals by Janelle Lewis to tie the score, but Taylor found the back of the cage again with 45 seconds left to give CSUEB a 5-4 halftime advantage. 

They made it 6-4 as Taylor made it a hat trick with her third goal two minutes into the third period. But the Sagehens once again answered back with a pair of goals. Both teams scored in the final minute of the quarter as Adrien Van Dyke got in on the fun, making the score 7-7 heading into the fourth.

Pomona-Pitzer went ahead on its first possession, then Bill quickly evened the score again with her fourth goal, then P-P even-more-quickly retook the lead. Then with under five minutes, Van Dyke and Cheyenne Pena scored on back-to-back possessions to put the Pioneers ahead. The Sagehens tied it again with 3:46 left, and then neither team was able to score for the rest of the period, sending them into overtime tied 10-10.

Pomona-Pitzer scored once in the first overtime period, and Bill netted her fifth of the afternoon with 1:56 left in the second OT. Then as the final seconds ticked down, goalkeeper Daniela Passoni sent a long pass to Van Dyke, who managed to find the back of the cage with just four seconds left. Unfortunately that wasn't enough to finish off the Sagehens. They scored a near-miraculous goal to beat the final buzzer, even the score at 12-12, and force a sudden death overtime period. Then on their first possession of sudden death, Pomona-Pitzer netted the game-winner.

Bill's five goals were a season high for the junior. Van Dyke dished out a team-high two assists and also recorded a hat trick despite not scoring until there was 1:18 left in the third quarter.

Now 9-8 for the season, CSUEB has two more extremely tough matches on docket Saturday, as they take on No. 16 Wagner and Bucknell to close out the tournament.