No. 5 Women's Water Polo Topples No. 2 Fullerton in Conference Action

The No. 2 Fullerton College Hornets and the No. 5 Riverside City College Tigers have built a strong rivalry over the past five years. Since 2018, Riverside has boasted an abysmal 3-10 record against the Hornets. The Tigers began to tilt the momentum in their direction today as they hosted Fullerton in their final regular season home game on Wednesday afternoon. They came out firing and relied on strong goalkeeper play as they defeated the Hornets by the final score of 7-6.

It is the first win the Tigers have earned over Fullerton since early September of 2019; a year in which they lost to them in the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Championship game, Southern California Regional Championship game and the CCCAA State Championship game.

With the past in the rearview mirror, Riverside jumped out to an early 2-0 lead with goals from sophomore Taylor Mason and freshman Grace Deen. Sophomore goalkeeper Gabriella Fisher had some monster saves and denied all five of the Hornet's first-quarter shots.

Riverside added two more goals in the second quarter compliments of freshman Jaedan Johnson and sophomore Amber Nielsen to cart a 4-1 lead into halftime.

Mason continued to play well by adding another goal, backed by a score from sophomore Lauren Loffelmacher to extend their lead to 6-2.

The Hornets continued to fight as they scored three goals in the final two minutes to make things interesting, but time was in the Tigers' favor leading to a 7-6 win as time expired.

Fisher (12-5) was dominant between the pipes, especially in the first three quarters. She came up with major stops leading to a clutch 10 saves to keep the Tigers in control. Furthermore, she added four steals to lead the team.

Johnson and Mason each fired home two scores, while Johnson pocketed three steals as well.