LA JOLLA, Calif. ? The No. 17 UC San Diego women's water polo team, despite five different Triton players scoring, lost a tough home match Wednesday at the hands of No. 4 Hawaii, 7-5. The defeat dropped the Tritons to 15-16 on the season while the Rainbows improved to 15-6.
“This was a good test for us to see where we're at,” UCSD head coach Larry Sanders said. “It's certainly a measuring stick playing San Diego State and Hawaii, ranked fifth and fourth in the country, and coming within a goal or two. Like I've said before though, in order to beat these teams we have to do a better job of capitalizing on their mistakes.”
The Tritons played the Rainbows tough, never allowing UH to stretch its lead to more than two goals through the entire game.
UCSD took the early 1-0 lead at the 6:49 mark in the opening quarter when junior Sydney Gstettenbauer pushed ahead of the defense during a change of possession to toss in a breakaway score. UH attacker Anna Sieprath collected a goal late in the period to even the game at 1-1.
The teams traded scores early in the second quarter with the Tritons getting a goal from senior Nicole Hermann, who found the back of the net on a shot launched from the top left of the UCSD offensive formation.
The Rainbows rallied for a two-goal spurt in the later stages of the quarter that included an impressive score off a two-meter move from sophomore Leonie Van Der Molen. UH junior Kelly Mason and Van Der Molen each had two goals in the quarter to help the Rainbows to take a 5-3 into halftime.
The UCSD squad showed resiliency though and cut the lead to 5-4 midway through the third quarter when sophomore Emilia Halmay snuck a cross-cage shot into the right side of the net past UH goalkeeper Sara Gralitzer. Halmay's score was the only of the period for either team.
Halfway through the final quarter, the Rainbows managed to toss in a goal from a tough angle on the left side of the formation. UCSD rallied back again when redshirt freshman Janice Aguilar beat two UH defenders at the two-meter position to lift a shot over Gralitzer and make it a one-goal game again, 6-5, with 2:51 remaining in regulation. Less than 30 seconds later though the Rainbows added another score and UH held on for the 7-5 victory.
The Tritons will travel to Los Angeles to play No. 12 Loyola Marymount at 12 p.m. Saturday. The UCSD squad returns to Canyonview Pool for their final home match on Thursday, April 17 against Cal Baptist. The contest, preceded by a Senior Day presentation, is set to begin at 7 p.m.
