Fullerton College’s women’s water
polo team won their home game by a final score of 13-9 against Cypress College on Saturday, Sept. 20.

In what was a close game for the Hornets, the win makes it two in a row and their second Orange Empire Conference win of the season.

“It wasn’t a pretty win, but we won. At the end of the day no one is going to remember how the game was played, they just can remember who won and what the score was,” commented Head-Coach Garbiel Martinez.

The Fullerton Hornets and Cypress Chargers began the first quarter exchanging goals, but the Chargers looked to maintain control of the game.

Halfway through the first quarter, Cypress sophomore, Ailien Nguyenly completed a pass to freshman, Natasha Velez who found an scoring chance and gave Cypress a one goal lead.

Just moments later, Fullerton’s sophomore utility player, Bianca Vera scored less than a minute later. The goal was set up by a pass from Freshman utility player, Kirzanne Bernil.

After the Hornets tied the score at 2-2, Cypress’s Velez was able to find the back of the net once more and give her team the lead as the quarter winded down.

Fullerton wasn’t going to let up easy in the first. With less than a minute left, the Hornets were able to score two goals and give themselves a 4-3 lead at then end of the first quarter.

The Chargers offense got off to a quick start at the start of the second quarter, but this time the Hornets struggled to get that goal back.

It wasn’t until more than almost halfway through the second quarter when Vera scored a goal to bring the momentum back to the Hornet’s side.

“Overall we started off a little rocky, but towards the middle we did better,” said Vera.

Using Vera’s goal as momentum, the Hornets built themselves a sizable lead in the second quarter.

Goals by Sophomore utility player, Veronica Ramirez, Bernil and Vera along with saves on defense by Sophomore goalkeeper, Shannon Tully kept Fullerton in command of the game and sent them to halftime with an 8-4 lead.

The beginning of the third quarter began with Fullerton protecting their lead, but Cypress was able to score and chip away at their deficit.

Velez found the back of the net twice in the quarter and by the end of the third, Fullerton’s four goal lead had dwindled down to just one.

“We lost our composure a little bit and the other team was rousing up and making all this noise. It might have gotten to our girls,” added Martinez.

In the first minute of the final quarter, Velez scored yet again. This score got her team energized and momentum had shifted in favor of the Chargers.

A few minutes later Fullerton found their opportunity to regain the lead. Tully delivered long pass to Vera, who then found Freshman utility player, Annelise Hernandez for a wide-open shot.

Fullerton looked to pull away from Cypress and seal the victory. Freshman utility player, Cynthia Lujan lobbed a shot over Cypress goalkeeper for another Fullerton goal with just over half the quarter to play.

The Hornets then regained their form and continued to add to the lead.

With less than half of the fourth quarter remaining, Fullerton looked to put the game away. Goals by Vera, Ramirez and Hernandez added to the their lead and helped put away the Chargers by a final score of 13-9.

“We played really hard and good as a team. We made a couple of mistakes, but we’re improving, ” said Ramirez on today’s performance.

Up next for the Hornets, is the Mt. SAC Women’s classic. Fullerton will start the weekend tournament with a game against Long Beach City College.