NEWPORT BEACH, Calif. – In its first game of the 2023 Barbara Kalbus Invitational Friday, the 16th-ranked UC San Diego women's water polo team was defeated, 16-7, by No. 5 Hawai'i at Corona del Mar High School.
The Tritons will face 17th-ranked UC Davis Saturday at 9:15 am. in Corona del Mar. The Aggies lost, 8-3, to No. 4 California Friday.
UC San Diego's record now stands at 4-9. Hawai'i improved to 9-1 with its victory.
For complete tournament information including game results and more, visit the
Tournament Central page.
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HOW IT HAPPENED
Hawai'i scored the first six goals of the game and stayed ahead the rest of the way. The Rainbow Wahine led 11-2 at halftime while both squads scored five goals each in the second half.
Trailing 14-3 in the third quarter, UC San Diego reeled off four-straight goals courtesy of
Kendall Thomas, her second of the game,
Caroline Christl, and
Lucia Doak. Christl scored back-to-back, the first coming on a power play. Doak's goal early in the fourth quarter and also on a power play, brought the score to 14-7 in favor of Hawai'i. Unfortunately, Doak's score was the last for the Tritons.
Also scoring for UC San Diego were
Annika Arroyo and
Courtney Okumura.
Lexi Stahl started in net for UC San Diego and played the first half, making five saves in the loss. The second half saw
Katie Ward tak over goalkeeping duties. She finished with eight stops, one short of her career-high.
The Rainbow Wahine got three goals from Lucia Gomez de la Puente. Five other players - Cila David, Libby Gault, Lot Stertefeld, Emma van Rossum, and Jordan Wedderburn had two each.
Bridget Layburn made seven saves in the win.
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QUOTABLE FROM HEAD COACH BRAD KREUTZKAMP
"This was definitely not the way we wanted to start off this tournament. We felt we had a good weeks of training and I wanted to come out much sharper than we were. All the credit to Hawai'i, who was much more agressive and definitely played very well. As with the many other years we've been playing in this tournament, you have to be able to move past the last game as fast as possible because there's always somebody good waiting for you. That's what we have tomorrow in UC Davis."
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TRITON TIDBITS
• The last time these two teams met was in April of 2022 at the Big West Tournament in Honolulu. In a semifinal, Hawai'i took a 14-12 victory.
• Named after water polo icon Barbara Kalbus, the tournament has been run annually since 2007.
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UP NEXT
UC San Diego plays No. 17 UC Davis Saturday at 9:15 a.m. The game can be followed with
live stats.
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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 II and III and helped guide 1,400 scholar-athletes to All-America honors. A total of 83 Tritons have earned Academic All-America honors, while 38 have earned 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 public institutions in Divisions I and II.
