Inexperience showed as the El Camino College Warriors women’s water polo team was unable to make a splash in its season opener as they lost to the Cerritos College Falcons.

Cerritos outplayed the ECC Warriors on both sides of the ball as its offense sliced through the ECC defenders to take control of the game from the start in a 16-3 victory.

The Falcons (5-0) entered the game undefeated riding a four-game win streak to start its season. For many of the ECC Warriors, this was the first collegiate game ever played together as a team.

“It was our first game so we kind of showed a little anxiety,” ECC Warriors coach Shelby Haroldson said. “I saw a lot of good things out there, but there are still some things we need to work on and there’s a lot of time left in the season so I’m excited.”

ECC sophomore Sonni Garcia is one of the four second-year players for the ECC Warriors and hopes to continue her success for the team after being named to the All-South Coast Conference (SCC) first team in her freshman season.

“Hopefully I can get [All-SCC first team] again,” Garcia said. “I’m here to play my second year as best as I can because I love the sport and be as best as I can [for the team].”

Garcia picked up right where she left off last season leading ECC with two goals and one assist in the game. Freshman Alexa Modry also added a goal for the ECC Warriors.

Freshman Gabby Arenas led Cerritos with three goals and one assist, while sophomore Amy Cervantes added three goals of her own. Arenas and Cervantes were just two of nine different players to contribute a goal for the Falcons.

“We had a chance to play four games over the weekend and this is [ECC’s] first game,” Cerritos coach Sergio Macias said. “We got the jitters out of us already and we were able to take advantage of early opportunities and get everyone involved in the game.”

The ECC Warriors (0-1) hopes to earn its first win of the season on the road against another SCC opponent in Mt. San Antonio College on Wednesday, Sept. 25 at 3 p.m.

Updated Monday, Sept. 23, at 1:40 p.m. Headline was edited due to grammatical error.