Sophomore center Catie Tuning emphasizes lack of chemistry as one of the causes for the women’s water polo team’s 13-4 loss to Long Beach City College Wednesday, Oct. 2.

“It was a hard loss, but we’re trying to get back into the swing of it. We had some difficulties in the past with our team. I think we are taking longer than normal to know each other,” Tuning said.

Long Beach City College took a 4-0 lead at the end of the first quarter and that led to an 8-2 advantage at halftime.

Head coach Sergio Macias echoed his player’s thoughts and said, “It was an awkward game. I thought we were going to come out a little more aggressive, more focused and we just didn’t come out the way I expected. We came out flat, no inspiration and no motivation. Long Beach (City College) seemed like they wanted to win this game more than we did and they took it to us.”

Turnover and lack of quality shots were another main reason for the lopsided score. Cerritos College shot 13 percent from the field, making four of 30 shot attempts, and had 16 turnovers.

Feeling the pressure from being down most of the game, Tuning tried to get the offense going and took twice as many shots as anyone else on the team, shooting 1 for 8 from the field.

“It was pretty score bad from the beginning, they got four goals right off (of) us when we had 0. Part of it was forcing it, and the other part was trying to get something in the net that we could work with,” she said.

Freshman goalie Catherine Borunda gave up 13 goals with nines saves, but saw that there was were still areas that she could improve.

“I have to work on moving over, sliding over, and moving quicker and faster. The girls keep on telling me to be more commutative,” she said.

With the loss, Cerritos College falls to a 4-7 overall record and a 1-2 record in conference play.

The team now goes up north to compete in the Cuesta Tournament; where it will play the defending champions Golden West, as well as Orange Coast, Riverside and the host Cuesta.

Macias looks at the tournament as a way for the team to improve and said, “ We have to play against the best teams to learn. Those teams are good because they are aggressive. So we are going to have to learn how to play aggressive over the weekend.”

Borunda also sees the positive for the tournament as a way to help with the team’s chemistry and said, “Passing, talking and really finding each other clicks. We want to get to a point where we can just look at each other and know, “Hey she wants (the ball) here and she’s going to do this.”