O'FALLON, Ill. - Cal State East Bay women's water polo played in the first semifinal of the WWPA Championship against
Cal State Monterey Bay on Saturday at McKendree Metro Rec Plex. The Otters scored the first three goals of the match and didn't trail and won the semifinal match, 5-4.
 

MATCH SUMMARY

CSUMB led 3-0 after the opening frame. 

Hope Grantham would scored Cal State East Bay's first goal of the match with 7:00 left in the half and Luna Sarmiento followed 33 seconds later with a strike, cutting the Otter's lead to 3-2. While the Otters would expanded their lead back to two, at 4-2, with 4:40 left, Rachel Heredia would score the Pioneers' final tally in the second quarter with 3:07 left. The Otters led 4-3 at halftime.

After a scoreless third quarter, Heredia scored the equalizer at the 6:22 mark of the fourth quarter to even the match at 4-4. However, the Otters scored the game winner with 3:46 left in regulation, going on to a 5-4 win over Cal State East Bay. 
 

NOTABLE STATS

• All four goals for the Pioneers were with an extra attacker. 
• Heredia finished with two goals while Grantham and Sarmiento had a  goal and one assist each. 
• In net, Daniela Passoni made nine saves. 
• Lola GIll, Jordan Jarandson and Heredia had two steals each. 
• Cal State East Bay outshot CSU Monterey Bay 31-26 while the Otters would win three out of the four opening sprints.

UP NEXT FOR CAL STATE EAST BAY

The Pioneers will play Fresno Pacific University in the third place match of the WWPA Championship at 11:30 a.m. central time (9:30 a.m. Pacific) on Sunday. Cal State East Bay and the Sunbirds split their regular season series, 1-1.