Cal State East Bay women’s water polo team (1-3) was held scoreless 17-0 against #8 nationally ranked University of Hawaii (2-0) at the Pioneer Pool last Friday.

Hawaii junior attacker Paula Chillida opened the game by scoring within the first minute, which eventually led to nine unanswered points to take a commanding 10-0 lead into halftime.

Sophomore Danika Kotylak finished with a game-high four goals to lead the Rainbow Wahine to victory.

“It was nerve-racking to be under constant pressure,” CSUEB senior goalkeeper Marrina Nation said, “We can definitely learn a lot from this game.” Nation finished the game with two saves.

Despite drawing 11 ejections and power plays combined in the game, the Pioneers could not get anything going offensively. CSUEB Junior Taylor Cross led the team as she tallied three on the day.

“Our goal going into the game was drawing ejections and I thought we did the right moves to lead to those ejections,” CSUEB Head Coach Lisa Cooper told the Pioneer.

“When playing against top teams like Hawaii, everything has to be crisp.”

CSUEB displayed moments of brilliance defensively coming out of halftime, holding the Rainbow Wahine to two goals.

On the offensive end, shots for the Pioneers would deflect off the post.

Hawaii came out relentless on offense in the fourth quarter adding five more goals to close out the blowout match.

The Rainbow Wahine are no strangers to the Pioneers as they have played head-to-head for three consecutive years.

All road games for Hawaii this season are in California as they represent the Big West Conference.

Since 1998, the Hawaii Rainbow Wahine has owned CSU East Bay by going 7-0 all-time in seven meetings (113-25).

The 2014-15 Rainbow Wahine roster consists of eight players who both currently and previously played for their respective national teams in their home countries.

“It’s going to take discipline, executing, patience, and communication to compete with other teams that we meet,” Cooper said.

On Feb. 7, the Pioneers will travel to the Triton Invitational at UC San Diego in La Jolla, California to face their third top-10 nationally ranked opponent already this season, #3 USC is 2-0 so far this season.