WATER POLO — After losing two close games to high-ranking
opponents, No. 17 UCSD needed to beat a strong team to prove that its goal of
winning the upcoming Western Water Polo Association Championships is possible.
The Tritons got that victory on April 12, using a strong third quarter to power
a 9-7 victory over WWPA rival and 12th-ranked
to even out their record at 16-16 and post a win over one of the top conference
teams. The Tritons posted the victory after a tough home loss on April 9 to No.
4 University of Hawaii by a score of 7-5.
“Our biggest rivals in the conference are Loyola Marymount
and UC Davis,” senior goalkeeper Kim Hockett said. “We’d only beaten [Loyola
Marymount] a couple times since I’ve been playing before this win.”
Both teams had no trouble finding the goal early in the
game, each scoring three goals early in the first period. With one second left
in the first quarter, the Lions scored a goal to put UCSD in a 4-3 hole. The
scoring subsided in the second quarter when each team scored only one goal,
leaving Loyola Marymount clinging to a 5-4 halftime lead. Still, since the
Tritons had been held to five or less goals in three of their past four
contests, their four, first-quarter goals were encouraging.
“We took good shots and shot the ball well,” Hockett said.
“We also took a lot of shots.”
UCSD continued its solid offensive effort in the third
quarter while simultaneously stepping up its defense. The Tritons capitalized
on scores from senior utility Nicole Hermann and sophomore utility Stephanie
Bocian to take a 6-5 lead. With three seconds left in the quarter and the
Tritons having held the Lions scoreless for the entire period, junior attacker
Sydney Gstettenbauer added another goal
to take a 7-5 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Tritons added another quick goal in the fourth period
from Gstettenbauer, scoring her fourth of the game to extend UCSD’s lead. The
three-goal cushion was enough for Hockett and the Tritons’ stingy defense as
UCSD came out with a hard-fought 9-7 victory.
“We played excellent against LMU,” Hermann said. “Our offense
was great and we played solid defense like always.”
The win came after two close losses to higher-ranked
opponents in which the Tritons could not provide enough offense to secure
victories.
“We were coming off two close games and it was good to get a
victory in the third one,” Hockett said.
One of those close losses came from the
of
ranked fourth in the nation. Gstettenbauer started the scoring in the game with
a counterattack goal with
in the first quarter. The Rainbows added a score of their own at the end of the
first period to even the score at 1-1.
Hermann added a goal from the flat for the Tritons in the
second quarter, but
answered with three goals to take a 5-3 lead into halftime. UCSD’s defense in
the third quarter kept the Tritons in the game, holding the Rainbows scoreless
while sophomore two-meter defender Emilia Halmay added a goal to cut
lead to 5-4.
The Tritons were not, however, able to stop Hawaii as well
in the fourth quarter as the Rainbows added two scores and UCSD was only able
to post one goal of its own from freshman two-meter Janice Aguilar.
“I thought we played pretty well against a team that’s
ranked fourth in the nation,” Hockett said. “We just missed some opportunities
and took some bad shots.”
With only one game left in the regular season, the Tritons
have their eyes set on the WWPA Championships on April 25-27 in
Angeles
“We’re going to see Loyola Marymount again and if we beat
them and UC Davis we’ll win conference and go to NCAA for the first time in
about 10 years,” Hockett said. “Beating LMU shows that we can do that.”
In UCSD’s senior game on April 17, the Tritons will face Cal
Baptist at home. UCSD hopes to end the regular season on a high note before the
WWPA Championships.
“That will be a good game to execute some of the things we
did against LMU against an opponent that’s not quite as competitive,” Hermann
said. “We want to play with the same intensity and the same focus on offense.”
