ELAC water polo team splashes to 17-2 win

SADDLEBACK, CA — The East Los Angeles College water polo team defeated Southwestern College 17-2 in the Saddleback Invitational today.

The Huskies are a different team with their starting goalkeeper added to the roster, freshman Alejandra Gazpar (Maywood High School).

Gazpar had 28 tournament saves. She has the best save percentage in the state.

ELAC lost 8-6 against host Saddleback College, who is 4-2 overall, and 7-6 vs. Palomar College (1-1).

Against Southwestern, the Huskies scored five goals in the first period, two each from sophomore Sophia Gonzalez (Harvard-Westlake HS) and freshman Amy Cervantes (Montebello HS).

Gonzales scored four goals s did freshman Caitlyn Woo (Mark Keppel HS) who played her best game of the young season. Woo was unstoppable in the third period scoring three goals.

Freshman Elizabeth Melendrez (Mark Keppel HS) played her strongest game of the season against Southwestern. She scored three goals, two in the second period.

Sophomore Jessenia Barberena (Mark Keppel HS) alsoscored two goals, as did freshman Allyson Jimenez (Montebello HS).

Jimenez had a team-high seven steals. Cervantes had a team-high four assists.

Against the Saddleback Gauchos and their home crowd, ELAC fell behind 5-3 in the first period and 6-3 at the half.

The Huskies closed the gap to 7-5 after the third period then rallied to pull within one goal, down 7-6 in the fourth period.

The Gauchos added an insurance goal with just over three minutes left in the game for an 8-6 lead, which was the final score.

Gonzalez scored three goals against Saddleback, Jimenez scored two and Barberena one. Jimenez had a season-high nine steals.

ELAC tournament team-high totals included eight goals scored from Gonzalez, 16 steals from Jimenez and seven assists from Cervantes.

Gonzalez has scored 18 goals this season, third-most in the state.

ELAC travels to Long Beach City College (1-0)  to play the Vikings in a South Coast Conference game on Wednesday, Sept. 13 with a 3 p.m. start. Long Beach City beat LA Trade Tech 26-3 last Wednesday.

Follow ELAC Athletics at http://athletics.elac.edu/landing/index and ELAC Huskies Athletics on Facebook.

story submitted by Tadzio Garcia