BAKERSFIELD, CA-  The Hartwick women's water polo team erased an early 6-0 deficit to come back to defeat Cal State East Bay 14-12 at the Roadrunner Invite hosted by Cal State Bakersfield on Saturday afternoon.

Shannon Leonard (Pointe Clair, Quebec) and Lily Martinez (Commerce, CA) scored three times to lead the Hawks. Kamila Zakirova (Almaty, Kazahkstan) and Lisa Bass (Montreal, Quebec) both had two goals. Sasha Freeborn (Auckland, New Zealand), Alyssa Analytis (Montreal, Quebec), and Allison Kosich (Stockton, CA) all scored once.

Haley Cox (El Segundo, CA) had eight saves in goal for the Hawks.

Carly Clark scored four times to lead the Pioneers. Claire Pierce and Erica Crain both scored three times. Sara Hudyn had two scores.

The Pioneers jumped out to a 5-0 lead after the first quarter and were up 6-0 at 6:49 of the second quarter.  Hartwick finally got on the board at 4:40 of the second quarter on Martinez's first goal of the game. Martinez would score again to make it a 6-2 game but Cal State East Bay would answer back with a goal to go up 7-2 with 1:24 left in the second. Analytis would score her only goal of the game with 13 seconds remaining in the second but Hartwick still trailed 7-3 going into halftime.

Clark's third goal of the contest increased the Pioneer lead to 8-3 just 17 seconds into the third quarter. The Hawks would score three straight times to get to within two goals of tying the game.  Cal State East Bay would score once to go up 9-6 with 3:07 left to play in the third quarter. Bass' second goal would make it a two-score game but the Pioneers would again go up by three goals with 2:13 left in the third. The Hawks would get to within one score of tying the game with 34 seconds left in the third until the Pioneers scored with three seconds remaining to hold an 11-9 lead going into the final quarter of play.

In the final quarter, the Hawks rattled off four straight goals to take their first lead of the game with 2:41 remaining. The Pioneers would close the deficit to just one goal with 44 seconds remaining, but Martinez would score her third of the game with just 14 seconds remaining to secure the Hartwick victory.

In the earlier game, the Hawks fell to Cal Baptist 11-9. Zakirova, Bass, Jemma Dendy Young (Cape Town, South Africa), and Kosich all scored twice. Sami Capparelli (Miami, FL) had one goal.

Cox made five saves in goal for Hartwick. Tania Acevedo led the Lancers with four goals. Petra Kovacs and Christina Webb both scored twice. Molly Gritchen, Doris Tran, and Mallory Montano all had one goal each.

The Lancers had an early 2-0 advantage in the first quarter until Caparelli's goal with 22 seconds left reduced the lead to 2-1. Cal Baptist would lead 6-3 at halftime. The Lancers led 7-3 early in the third quarter but the Hawks would start to chip away at the lead in the third quarter as goals by Bass would get Hartwick to within 7-5 at 2:43.

In the fourth quarter, Kosich's second goal of the game at 6:12 made it an 8-7 Lancer lead. It would be as close as the Hawks could get as Cal Baptist maintained a two-goal advantage for the remainder of the game.

Hartwick concludes play at the invitational tomorrow with two games. The Hawks will face Redlands at 10:30 am and then Cal State Monterey at 3:30 p.m. local time.