Water Polo Looking For Scoring

With one of the better goalies in the South Coast Conference in sophomore Clarque De Young, The Pasadena City College women's water polo team has a strong base on defense. But it's the Lancers inability to generate offense that has contributed toward an 0-3 start to conference play. On Wednesday, PCC settled for an 8-3 loss against visiting Mt. San Antonio, one of three teams that are at the top of the dual standings.

PCC (1-6 overall) has scored just 11 goals in its three SCC defeats and 17 of the team's 39 overall goals were netted in the Lancers lone win, a 17-5 non-conference victory over Santa Monica on September 16. The team defense has yet to give up double digits in any of the team's seven games.

In the loss, the difference was the finishing right arm of Mt. SAC's Kayla De Herrera, who scored five goals, including the first four scores of the game for a 4-0 Mounties lead by one minute into the second quarter. The Mounties improved to 8-4 and 4-0 in conference.

The Lancers fought back with second-half goals by Jasmine Abriel, Evangelica Child, and Ellie White.

Pasadena and Mt. SAC each had the same amount of scoring opportunities with the Mounties holding  a slim 20-19 shot attempt advantage.

"We still need to work on our passing and setting up in the offensive zone," said PCC head coach Terry Stoddard. "We have played well especially on defense in stopping opponents on their transition plays. Clarque is making big saves and players like Irma Sarac have stepped up."

De Young made six saves, including stopping a penalty shot, while Sarac made a team-high four steals. White and Christy Lam added three steals each.  

PCC will play four games in two days in Northern California, both at College of San Mateo on Friday-Saturday, Sept. 30-October 1. Check the schedule/results page for opponents and times of matches.

[Photo--Irma Sarac is in action during PCC's game at the Aquatic Center Wednesday, image by Richard Quinton.]