HONOLULU, Hawaii - The UC San Diego women's water polo team scored five unanswered goals to start its match with Cal State East Bay and never looked back in a 9-5 win on Saturday afternoon at Duke Kahanamoku Aquatic Complex.
The win moves the Tritons (9-14) to 6-1 against Western Water Polo Association squads and gives the team a little more breathing room over CSUEB for the No. 2 seed heading into the WWPA Championships on April 29. The Pioneers drop to 7-3 in WWPA competition and 14-10 overall.
Hanalei Crowell, Jessica Tran and Felicia Orozco tallied goals and Sarah Lizotte scored twice before the Pioneers got on the board prior to the end of the first period. Leading 5-1, UC San Diego scored its only goal of the second period less a minute in on a strike by Natalie Peng. CSUEB answered with a goal from Ariel Noriega to cap the scoring in the second quarter and send the game into halftime with UCSD leading 6-2.
After East Bay open the second half with a goal, Peng and Crowell each scored their second goal of the match to help the Tritons to an 8-4 lead at the end of the third quarter. Erica Crain scored for CSUEB to open the fourth quarter, but Lizotte answered back again with a minute left in regulation to cap the scoring and give UCSD a final 9-5 scoreline.
Allie Taylor added six saves in the match, increasing her two-day total to 23 stops in the cage during the Tritons' trip to Hawaii. Taylor stopped eight shots against No. 11 San Diego State and recorded nine blocks against No. 5 Hawaii on Friday evening.
UCSD fell to SDSU and Hawaii, 10-6 and 13-4, in the teams' respective matches on Friday. As a part of the trip, the Tritons also scrimmaged the Canadian and Australian National Teams on Thursday.
