Even with a season record of 10-16, women’s water polo coach Corey Stanbury can take satisfaction from the Warriors’ performance this year.

“Given the group that we have, finishing in the top four in our conference is very good,” Stanbury said.

The water polo team beat Cerritos 6-4, but lost to Long Beach, 20-1 and Mt. SAC, 10-1 in the South Coast Conference Championships Saturday, Nov. 8.

“There’s just so much you can do with people who are just learning to handle the ball, as opposed to someone who’s been handling it six or seven years,” Stanbury said.

Having a pretty wide margin in scoring among each of the top five teams, the Warriors were hoping to bridge the gap by at least five goals in their final match with Mt SAC.

“We didn’t close it that much, but it was all right,” Laura Lizarzaburu said. “It was still a fun game, even though we lost by so much.”

The team has come a long way, considering they had a lot of beginners to start the season.

“Before last year, I had never played,” Sara Sherbin said. “But now I’m a lot better at it, although I haven’t scored.”

Individually, goalie Kelly Lancaster and Allyson Steiner proved to be the team’s backbone.

“Kelly broke an EC school record, having 235 saves in a season,” Stansbury said.

Steiner also performed well this season, scoring 47 goals and making 48 steals.

“She held a really good position as far as the ranking went in the state, and she was on the list for the most goals and steals,” Lizarzaburu said.

Stanbury said losing three players should have an impact on the team for next season.

“Expectations will depend on how many new recruits the team can get since Steiner, Jill Herbert, and Sherbin will be gone,” Stanbuty said.