CAMBRIDGE, Mass. - Wrapping up its final day in the Boston area Sunday, the UC San Diego women's water polo team split a pair of games at Harvard's Crimson Classic.
The 11th-ranked Tritons defeated Long Island University, 19-16, after dropping an 11-8 decision to the host Crimson, ranked 18th nationally.
UC San Diego compiled a 3-1 record in Cambridge as it won against Villanova and No. 8 Princeton Saturday.
The Tritons are now an even 7-7 on the season.
For a complete schedule and results of the event, visit the
tournament page.
HOW IT HAPPENED v HARVARD
The critical quarter was the third as Harvard out-scored UC San Diego 4-1.
Coming out of halftime with a narrow 5-4 advantage, the Crimson notched two goals in the first 1:33 To go up 7-4. With 3:08 left in the quarter, Harvard put up two more goals, one coming on a power play.
Trailing 9-4, Triton
Abigail Schechter scored on a power play with 53 seconds remaining in the third.
The fourth period was won by the Tritons, 3-2, but it wasn't enough to overtake Harvard.
UC San Diego's
Caroline Christl finished the game with five goals to match her single game career-high. She also netted five goals earlier this season in a win against Arizona State during the Triton Invitational. In fact, Christl scored the game-winning goal against the Sun Devils in a sudden victory overtime period.
Lucia Doak scored twice to round out the goal count for the Tritons.
Emma Gilbert registered a hat trick for Harvard while Heidi Heffelfinger and Niki Piovan each had two.
In goal for the Tritons,
Lexi Stahl played three quarters and
Bria Zwaschka played one.
HOW IT HAPPENED v LONG ISLAND UNIVERSITY
UC San Diego dominated the first half, out-scoring LIU 13-6. Things evened out in the third quarter, with both teams finding the net three times, which left the Tritons with a 16-9 lead heading into the final period.
The Sharks came alive in the fourth, scoring seven goals to the Tritons' three. A goal by
Abigail Schechter with 3:59 left in regulation, UC San Diego's last of the game, made it 19-12 Tritons. LIU was able to score the final four goals, but it was too little, too late.
Abby Moll led the Tritons with a career-high four goals.
Kendall Thomas was just behind with three while
Lucia Doak,
Sofia Munatones, and
Courtney Okumura had two each.
Bria Zwaschka earned the victory in net.
The Sharks got six goals from Sydney deVroedt and another five from Greta Tadday.
WHAT HEAD COACH BRAD KREUTZKAMP HAD TO SAY
"We definitely wanted to take two today, but Harvard is a heck of a team. They're having a great year and we just couldn't get past their defense. We'll definitely go back to the drawing board and see what we can do when they come to our pool next month. I thought we played good defense so we hope to keep that rolling.
Overall this weekend, I'm very happy with our improvement from two years ago. With mostly the same team, we kind of got our rear ends handed to us out east. This weekend turned out much different. I think we have one of the toughest schedules in the country, so we have to keep grinding all in the hopes to peak at the right time for conference play."
TRITON TOURNEY SCORING
•
Caroline Christl, 11
•
Lucia Doak, 11
•
Abby Moll, 7
•
Abigail Schechter, 7
•
Kendall Thomas, 7
•
Emily Cloherty, 3
•
Sofia Munatones, 3
•
Kenzie Larson, 2
•
Courtney Okumura, 2
•
Allie Bartholomew, 1
•
Evelyn Burns, 1
•
Sydney Munatones, 1
TRITON TIDBITS
• UC San Diego and Harvard will meet again on March 15 in La Jolla.
• While in Boston, the team visited storied Fenway Park, home of the nine-time World Champion Boston Red Sox.
UP NEXT
UC San Diego remains on the road for the next two weeks. On Feb. 15, the Tritons play at Loyola Marymount and then head to UC Irvine for the Barbara Kalbus Invitational, which is scheduled for Feb. 21-23.
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.
