By John M. Sherrard – After taking a break from South Coast Conference play this week, in which the Mountie women water polo team are undefeated, they ran into two top teams in the 20th Annual Mt. SAC Tournament on Friday.
Fullerton, with only one loss at the time, beat the Mounties, 18-12, in an offensive battle and Santa Barbara, undefeated at 8-0, downed the Mounties, 12-4, in the afternoon game at Marie T. Mills Aquatic Center.
In the loss to Fullerton, however, freshman 2-meter player Kayla De Herrera (Bonita HS) had a game-high seven goals scored for the Mounties, followed by three goals from sophomore attacker Beth Keane (Corona HS).
The first quarter was a scoring bonanza with the Mounties leading, 6-5. Sophomore attacker Hannah "Moose" Krolik (Ontario HS) got the scoring started and tied the game at 1-1 at the 6:54 mark.
In the period De Herrera and Keane scored two goals each for the Mounties.
Fullerton (5-1), with the only goal in the second period, tied the game 6-6 at the half.
De Herrera added three more scores in the third as Mt. SAC (5-3) again had the lead, 10-8, heading into the last period.
De Herrera added to the Mountie lead early in the fourth, 11-8, but the flood gates opened for Fullerton the rest of the way as the Hornets put in ten goals to Mt. SAC's one (De Herrera).
In the afternoon game, undefeated Santa Barbara started fast and never let up, scoring five goals in the first and second periods for the 10-2 halftime lead.
Mt. SAC freshman attacker Ridlee Dunlap (Esperanza HS) and De Herrera had the only goals in the half, while Krolik and Keane scored in the third period. De Herrera and Dunlap each had three steals for Mt. SAC (5-4).