SANTA BARBARA, Calif. ? The 15th ranked UC San Diego women's water polo team dropped two matches against higher ranked opponents in the UC Santa Barbara tournament on Saturday. The Tritons opened against No. 3 Stanford and held their own in the first half before falling 11-4. In the evening, UCSD led host and No. 11 UCSB 3-1 after the first quarter and fell behind by three goals in the fourth quarter. UCSD put a rally together but would fall short, losing 9-8. Sarah Bajorek scored twice against Stanford while Michelle Perkins scored five times on the day, with four goals coming against the Gauchos.
In the match against No. 3 Stanford, UCSD played a strong first half, being tied at 2-2 after the first quarter and down 4-2 at halftime. Stanford proved too tough in the second half, scoring seven of the nine goals after the break. Sarah Bajorek scored twice while Sydney Gstettenbauer and Michelle Perkins also netted scores against the Cardinal. Stanford won 11-4.
Against the Gauchos, UCSD jumped out to a 3-1 lead in the first quarter as Perkins scored and Britta Nordstrom added two goals for the Triton lead. After UCSD opened up a 4-2 lead in the second quarter, UCSB scored three times before halftime to lead 5-4 at the break. Natalie Hockett tied the game at 5-5 with 5:46 left in the third before two Gaucho goals about 50 seconds apart gave UCSB the 7-5 lead. Perkins scored with 1:14 left in the quarter to bring UCSD with 7-6 at the end of three. UCSB scored the first two goals of the fourth quarter at 6:18 and 4:37 to take a 9-6 lead. UCSD answered with a Perkins goal at 4:07 to come within two. UCSD scored with six seconds left as Lauren Woods netted a goal for the final scoring at 9-8 UCSB.
UCSD will have two more games on Sunday, the first against No. 14 UC Davis at 11:30 a.m. at the Rec. Center Pool in Santa Barbara, Calif.
