LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The No. 19 UC San Diego women's water polo squad put together two strong team performances Saturday, a 10-1 win over Chapman in the morning followed by a narrow 6-5 defeat at the hands of No. 5 San Diego State in the annual Harper Cup.
“We played hard, had good focus and tried to make things happen,” UCSD head coach Larry Sanders said about the SDSU game. “We just came up a little short.”
In Saturday's first game versus CU, the Tritons pushed out to a 6-0 advantage through the first quarter. Junior Sydney Gsettenbauer and sophomore Stephanie Bocian each had two scores in the opening period for the Tritons. UCSD redshirt freshman Janice Aguilar tossed in two goals late in the second quarter to guide the team to an 8-0 advantage at the match's halfway point.
The Tritons added another goal in the third quarter before the two teams traded points in the final period with CU breaking the potential shutout with 4:55 remaining in regulation.
SDSU defeated Chapman in an afternoon match at Canyonview Pool, 12-2. Jenna Schuster of the Aztec squad scored four goals during that game.
The last contest of the day featured UCSD and SDSU in a battle for the Harper Cup, named after longtime UCSD men's - and former women's - water polo coach Denny Harper.
The Aztecs got on the board first at the 5:18 mark in the first quarter. Just 21 seconds later, the Tritons tied the game when sophomore Stephanie Heinrich lobbed the ball from the left side into the back of the net.
SDSU held a 2-1 lead after the first eight minutes and continued to push offensively in the second period, adding two more scores before the match's halfway mark. Down 4-1, the UCSD attack found its rhythm during the third quarter. About two minutes in, senior Elizabeth Hahn tossed a short pass into the middle that was picked up and converted into a score by an oncoming Nicole Hermann.
After the Aztecs tossed in a goal two minutes later to maintain their three-score lead, the Tritons rallied back yet again. This time, Heinrich threw an entry pass to senior Judy Emaus, who fired a spectacular backhanded shot into the back of the net.
Late in the same period UCSD pulled to within just one goal, 5-4, after Gstettenbauer scored on a short cross-cage lob from the left side during a 6-on-5 opportunity.
SDSU opened up the final quarter with a goal just 26 seconds in. The two teams went scoreless for almost the next seven minutes before the Tritons trimmed the lead back to one on a goal from Emaus, who made a tough inside turnaround shot to make the score 6-5. With only 49 ticks left on the clock at that point though, the Aztecs managed to escape with the one-goal victory.
“Defensively, we played well,” Sanders said. “We only gave up six goals to the No. 5 ranked team in the nation and we created offensive opportunities. We just weren't able to capitalize on enough of them.”
Senior Kim Hockett, making 12 saves against SDSU, was impressive in goal.
UCSD now holds a record of 15-15 on the season. SDSU improved to 24-3 in 2008 while Chapman falls to 9-14. The Tritons will play another home match at Canyonview Pool Wednesday at 6 p.m. against No. 4 Hawaii.
