Senior attacker Elizabeth Hahn and her fellow seniors went out with a 6-4 win over California Baptist University on April 17 in their final UCSD home game. (Erik Jepsen/Guardian File)

WATER POLO — The No. 16 Tritons ended their regular season
with a 6-4 win over California Baptist
University on April 17 in an
important win on Senior Night. With the victory, the Tritons will enter the
Western Water Polo Association Championship Tournament having won their last
two games; they now stand at 17-16 for the season.

Following a trend that’s held through the entire season,
UCSD’s defense was the main reason for the Tritons’ success in the game. Senior
goalkeeper Kim Hockett anchoredher team with five saves, giving her a
program-record 277 saves for the season.

“Our team’s defense is always strong,” sophomore utility
Stephanie Bocian said. “We just need to focus on taking the right shots and
putting them away.”

Senior utility Nicole Hermann helped out with the offense,
putting the Tritons on the board early with a 6-on-5 goal to give UCSD a 1-0
lead. UCSD added another score from Bocian, netting a near-side goal with 3:41 left in the first period.

To advance far into the conference tournament, the UCSD women’s water polo team must get past perennial powerhouses UC Davis and the Loyola Marymount Lions, who the Tritons beat earlier in the season. (Mike Chi/Guardian)

UCSD entered the second period with a 2-0 lead and looked to
add on before halftime. With the Tritons playing five of their seniors on
offense, the only junior in the pool for UCSD, attacker Sydney Gstettenbauer,
netted a goal in the Tritons’ half-court offense to extend the advantage to
three goals. UCSD’s defense, led by Hockett, continued to hold the Lancers
scoreless in the contest and Gstettenbauer added another goal on the Tritons’
counterattack to make the score 4-0.

The Tritons wasted no time adding onto their lead, coming
out of halftime with Hermann converting on her second goal of the game on
UCSD’s first possession of the half. On the ensuing possession, the Lancers
finally got rid of their goose egg and cut the Tritons’ lead to 5-1.

With the Tritons holding onto a comfortable lead and the
game in the fourth quarter, the Tritons took Hockett out, only to see sophomore
goalkeeper Markayla Quane continue the success in the goal. With 4:46 left in the final period, Gstettenbauer
used a pass from senior two-meter Judy Emaus to score her second goal of the
night and give the Tritons a 6-1 lead.

Cal Baptist’s offense found its rhythm late in the period,
scoring three goals on the Tritons’ defense. Still, UCSD’s strong start was
enough to secure the win and give the Tritons momentum heading into the WWPA
Championship.

“We played well in the game,” Hockett said. “We played
strong in the beginning and dominated the whole game … it didn’t really hit me
that it was my last home game because we still have conference coming up.”

If the Tritons hope to do well in the conference tournament,
they are going to have to go through UC Davis and Loyola
Marymount University.
The Tritons proved that they could beat LMU in the previous meeting between the
two teams.

“We’ve known all season that they were going to be the teams
to beat,” Hockett said.

The WWPA Championship will take place from April 25 through
April 27 in Los Angeles. If the
Tritons win the championships they will advance to the NCAA tournament.

“I think we’re in a good place going into conference,”
Bocian said. “We’re coming off a strong win against LMU and if we continue to
execute our offense, we’ll be in good shape.”