Women’s Water Polo Places Third at OEC Championships, Tabbed Fifth Seed for SoCals

The Riverside City College women's water polo team entered into the Orange Empire Conference (OEC) Championships with a tough slate of competitors. They faced off against newly rivaled Orange Coast College on Thursday afternoon and were edged by one goal. Despite not being eligible to compete for a conference title after the tough loss, they looked to still land on the podium and haul in a third-place trophy.

They did just that by being on the other end of a one-goal game after taking down fifth-seeded Golden West, 6-5.

It was a tied game entering into halftime, but Riverside quickly pulled away in the third quarter highlighted by a four-goal outburst. They failed to score in the fourth, but their defense was strong enough to hold Golden West at bay leading to the win.

Sophomore Taylor Mason was fantastic as she accounted for four of the Tiger's six scores. She added two steals as well.

Sophomore tandem Lauren Nelson and Amber Nielsen chipped in the other crucial scores.

Aside from Mason, there may be no better performance than that of sophomore goalkeeper Gabriella Fisher. She was electric between the posts highlighted by 15 saves. She recorded 22 total save throughout the tournament and recorded her fourth double-digit saves mark of the season.

Riverside will enter into Southern California Regional play as the fifth seed and will play the 12^th-seeded Cuesta College Cougars on Thursday, November 10 at 10:15 p.m. The regionals will be hosted at Long Beach City College.