SAN DIEGO - With two more victories Sunday at the Aztec Invitational the UC San Diego women's water polo team ran its win streak to seven.
The morning match saw the 13th-ranked Tritons defeat La Salle, 11-6. They followed that performance with a 13-8 topping of Princeton, the eighth-ranked team in the nation.
UC San Diego is now 14-8 overall on the season. The Tritons went 3-0 at the tournament as they beat Concordia 13-7 Saturday.
San Diego State hosted the tourney at the Aztec Aquaplex.
HOW IT HAPPENED v LA SALLE
The Tritons jumped on it early as
Caroline Christl and
Courtney Okumura scored back-to-back goals in the first 1:13 of the game. They were able to stay in front the rest of the way.
The Explorers were able to draw back within a single goal in the third quarter. Trailing by three, 5-2, after
Emily Cloherty scored on a five-meter penalty shot, La Salle got consecutive goals from Martina Bonnet Saez and Sofia Kolovou to make it 5-4.
UC San Diego answered in a big way, scoring the next five goals of the game, two in the third quarter and another three in the first 2:17 of the fourth to take a 10-4 lead. During that offensive spurt, five different Tritons found the net including Okumura,
Abigail Schechter,
Emily Cloherty,
Sydney Munatones, and
Lauren Bellavia. Two of the goals came during a power play while Bellavia's was earned on a penalty shot.
Cloherty tallied another goal, the Tritons' final one, with 4:26 remaining in the game. That goal once again put UC San Diego up by six, 11-5.
Okumura and Cloherty each recorded hat tricks. Okumura also picked up an assist in the game.
Goalkeeper
Lexi Stahl had another solid outing, making 10 stops in net.
Bonnet Saez and Kolovou each scored twice for La Salle.
HOW IT HAPPENED v PRINCETON
Once again, the Tritons took an early lead, this time scoring the game's first three goals. The first two came in the first minute of play from
Lucia Doak and Thomas.
Sofia Munatones put UC San Diego up 3-0 at the 2:41 mark of the first quarter.
As was the story in the La Salle game, the Tritons were able to keep themselves in front until the final horn.
Ahead 6-3 in the second quarter, UC San Diego again reeled off three-consecutive goals to take a 9-3 lead. The first came from Doak on a penalty shot late in the second. Christl followed with back-to-back goals just 24 seconds apart in the third.
The Tigers would get no closer than three from that point. A three-goal run in the third made it 9-6 Tritons, while a Shanna Davidson score at 1:20 of the third brought it to 10-7 in favor of UC San Diego.
The Tritons scored three of the game's final four goals from there. Schechter made good on two power plays in the third while Okumura closed out the game's scoring with 2:49 remaining in the fourth.
Christl finished with her second hat trick of the tournament. Doak also finished with a trifecta of goals, her third hat trick of the season.
Stahl accumulated 15 saves, a season-high for the junior.
WHAT HEAD COACH BRAD KREUTZKAMP HAD TO SAY
"I love seeing our team hitting on all cylinders. Our goal the entire year has been to play our best water polo late in the season, not early. I really feel we're doing that on both sides of the ball and we're in such a good head space right now. We're all looking forward to the second half of the season."
TRITON TIDBITS
•
Lexi Stahl has posted a double-digit save total six times this season. Over her last five outings, she has made 13, 11, 11, 10, and 15 stops.
•
Caroline Christl has an eight-game scoring streak going with a hat trick in six of those.
•
Emily Cloherty's hat trick against La Salle was the first of her career.
•
Abigail Schechter has scored twice in her last three games.
• UC San Diego has defeated two top ten ranked teams in March – No. 7 UC Irvine and No. 8 Princeton.
• The Tritons went 3-1 at this tournament in 2023, their only loss coming against Princeton.
• UC San Diego posted eight consecutive wins in 2022.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego takes a break from competition before traveling to Hawai'i to face the second-ranked Rainbow Wahine in a Big West match-up on Friday, March 29 (9 p.m. PT).
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 84 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 91 percent, one of the highest rates among institutions at all divisions.
