HONOLULU, Hawaii - The UC San Diego women's water polo team fell in both its matches in Friday's round-robin with No. 11 San Diego State and No. 5 Hawaii, succumbing to the Aztecs, 10-6, before dropping a 13-4 decision to the Rainbow Wahine at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
The Tritons fall to 8-14 overall and will face Cal State East Bay in a key Western Water Polo Association match-up on Saturday at 12:00 p.m. in Honolulu.
Felicia Orozco and Melissa Bartow scored goals in the opening period of the UCSD-SDSU match, giving the Tritons a 2-1 lead just less than six minutes in. SDSU would tie the match before the end of the frame and eventually take back the lead on a goal from Ashley Novack just a minute into the second quarter at 3-2.
Bartow tied the match with her second goal 35 seconds later before Kirsten Bates scored for the Tritons to take a 4-3 lead with 4:10 remaining in the half. However, the Aztecs would score a pair of goals before the halftime whistle and would not surrender the lead the rest of the way.
Alex Ford of SDSU scored the first two goals of the second half to extend the Aztec lead to three, 7-4. Orozco would add another goal and Sarah Lizotte got into the scoring action, keeping the Triton deficit at three heading into the final frame.
Meaghan Poland of SDSU would be the lone player to score in the final quarter as the Aztecs polished off the match, 10-6.
Allie Taylor recorded eight saves in the cage for UCSD in the opening game and followed with nine saves in the afternoon session.
Bates would start the scoring for the Tritons in their second affair, giving UCSD a 1-0 lead less than 1:30 into the match. However, the UCSD offense would go silent for the next two periods as Hawaii scored 11 unanswered goals before Orozco stopped the bleeding with 29 seconds left in the third quarter with the Rainbow Wahine leading 11-2.
Orozco scored again to make it 11-3 and Lizotte added her second goal of the day, but Hawaii matched UCSD's two goals with two scores of their own in the final frame to bring the final tally to 13-4 in favor of the host.
UCSD has dropped its last six contests, but hopes to rebound tomorrow against CSUEB. The Tritons have the Pioneers edged for the second seed in the WWPA playoffs, however, could find themselves behind Pioneers come Saturday evening without a positive result. UCSD took down CSUEB, 8-6, on February 11 at Canyonview Pool in the teams' only meeting in 2011.
As a part of their trip, the Tritons also scrimmaged the Canadian and Australian National Teams on Thursday.
