PRINCETON, N.J. -Â On the final day of competition at the Princeton Winter Tournament, the 15th-ranked UC San Diego women's water polo team split a pair of matches, defeating Bucknell before losing against No. 22 Long Island University at DeNunzio Pool on the Ivy League campus.
The score against Bucknell was 18-5 in favor of UC San Diego, while LIU was able to defeat the Tritons by a score of 14-11.
UC San Diego went 1-3 in New Jersey and is now 3-5 on the season. Â
HOW IT HAPPENED - BUCKNELL
UC San Diego spread its scoring evenly throughout the game, netting four goals in each of the first three quarters and adding another six in the fourth frame to close it out. Leading 4-2 after the opening quarter, the Tritons out-scored the Bison 8-0 over the second and third quarters.
Eight different players scored for UC San Diego. Freshman
Maja Layden led the way with four goals, an assist, a drawn exclusion, and a steal. Fellow freshman
Caroline Christl, sophomore
Kendall Thomas, and junior
Annika Arroyo all finished with three goals. Thomas and Arroyo both had an assist as well.
Sophomore goalie
Katie Ward made a career-high nine saves en route to the third win of her career.
Bucknell scored two goals in the first quarter and three in the fourth. Five players each had a single goal for the Bison.
HOW IT HAPPENED - LIU
UC San Diego scored three-consecutive goals to start the game, one from Thomas and two from sophomore
Lucia Doak. Thomas scored her second and freshman
Sofia Munatones netted her first to give the Tritons a 5-3 lead heading into the second period.
The Sharks tallied three goals in the second and were able to keep UC San Diego scoreless, giving LIU a 6-5 advantage at halftime.
Both squads netted four goals in the third quarter. For the Tritons, it was Doak, Thomas, sophomore
Courtney Okumura and junior
Lauren Bellavia. Bellavia's power play goal knotted it at 9-9, but Paola Dominguez scored with 13 seconds left in the quarter to give the Sharks a 10-9 advantage and they would stay in front the rest of the way.
Long Island scored six of its 14 goals on 5-meter penalty shots, and three of those came in the fourth quarter. Elena Camerena scored three times from the 5-meter line in the game, the last coming with just 38 seconds left in the fourth to put the Sharks up 14-10. Okumura completed a hat trick with a power play goal at :25, but that would round out the game's scoring.
Doak and Thomas joined Okumura with three goals apiece. All three Tritons also had an assist to come away with four points in the game.
Sophomore
Lexi Stahl made 10 saves in net for UC San Diego.
TRITON TIDBITS
• Three of the four teams UC San Diego played at the tournament were nationally-ranked (Princeton 16, Wagner 17, LIU 22).
•
Kendall Thomas led the Tritons with 14 points on 11 goals and three assists over the four tournament games at Princeton.
•
Annika Arroyo (seven goals, three assists) and
Courtney Okumura (six goals, four assists) both contributed 10 points during the tourney.
• Freshman
Maja Layden finished the tourney with six goals and a pair of assists for eight points.
•
Lexi Stahl made at least 10 saves in all three games she played, including a career-high 14 vs. Princeton.
UP NEXT
After starting its season with eight games on the road, UC San Diego finally plays at home by hosting its annual Triton Invitational Feb. 3-5 at Canyonview Aquatic Center. The 14-team tournament will feature 24 games over the three days. For an event schedule as well as ticket information, check out
Tournament Central.
About UC San Diego Athletics
After two decades as one of the most successful programs in NCAA Division II, the UC San Diego intercollegiate athletics program began a new era in 2020 as a member of The Big West in NCAA Division I. The 23-sport Tritons earned 30 team and nearly 150 individual national championships during its time in Divisions III and II and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America accolades, while 38 have received prestigious NCAA Post Graduate Scholarships. UC San Diego scholar-athletes exemplify the academic ideals of one of the world's preeminent institutions, graduating at an average rate of 90 percent, the highest rate among NCAA Division I and II institutions.
