LONG BEACH, Calif. – The No. 10 University of California, San Diego women's water polo team came up just short of victory against Long Beach State, falling 6-4. The Tritons drop to 13-7 and 1-1 in Big West action.
The defense was strong all game and held the Beach to a .222 shooting percentage.
Bennett Bugelli kept the Tritons in the game with her play in the goal and recorded 12 saves and two steals.
Long Beach State took an early 2-0 lead and shut the Tritons out in the first quarter. A goal on a power play from
Ciara Franke cut the deficit to 2-1 to close out the first half.
Both teams battled in the third quarter. A goal from Long Beach at 5:39 in the third quarter gave them a goal lead.
Grace Pevehouse and
Tera Richardson scored goals within a minute of each other to tie the game up 3-3.
Long Beach State reclaimed the lead seconds into the fourth quarter but Pevehouse scored to reclaim the lead. The Beach took advantage of a power play opportunity to go up 5-4 with a little over three minutes left in the game. Tritons took a timeout with 1:12 left to try and send the game in overtime but UC San Diego turned the ball over and the Beach capitalized.
The Tritons will stay in San Diego all next weekend. They kick the weekend off with their Big West home opener against Hawaii on March 13 at 6 p.m. From March 14-15, UC San Diego will compete in the Aztec Invite, hosted by San Diego State.
About UC San Diego Athletics
With 30 national team championships, nearly 150 individual titles and the top student-athlete graduation rate among Division II institutions in the United States, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program annually ranks as one of the most successful in the country. The Tritons sponsor 23 intercollegiate sport programs that compete on the NCAA Division I and II levels and, in summer 2020, will transition into full Division I status as a member of the Big West Conference. UC San Diego student-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 91 percent. A total of 82 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 37 have earned prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. In competition, more than 1,300 UC San Diego student-athletes have earned All-America honors.
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