Feb. 26, 2006

SANTA BARBARA, Calif. - The UC Davis Aggie women's water polo team split a pair of games on the second and final day of the UC Santa Barbara Gaucho Invitational to take fifteenth place in the sixteen-team tournament. After falling to Western Water Polo Association rival UC San Diego 5-4 in an overtime nail biter, the Aggies finished the day by taking an overwhelming 13-1 win over Brown.

Against the Tritons, the two teams traded one goal apiece in the first to tie things up after one quarter of play. In the second, the Aggies tossed in two while keeping UC San Diego scoreless to take a 3-1 lead heading into halftime. The Tritons turned things around in the third, evening the score with two unanswered goals of their own. In a repeat of the first quarter, both teams added a point to their total in the fourth quarter to tie the game at 4-4 taking the Aggies and Tritons into overtime.

The Tritons scored a goal in the first three-minute overtime period and it proved to be the final goal of the game as UC San Diego took the 5-4 win.

"With the UC San DIego game it was the same pattern we have had. We have pretty good defense. The nice thing about both of today's games is that we jumped on both teams early and we were controlling the game the majority of the time, we usually have to come from behind," said head coach Jamey Wright.

"The last goals they (UC San Diego) scored to tie it were both on six-on-five plays that we just didn't cover up on and the last goal was a garbage goal scored off of a loose ball. From a defensive standpoint, it was a good game and we did a pretty good job on six-on-fives and drawing ejections. We just need to be better at finishing off games, that is the one negative I saw in today's games."

In the fifteenth place match-up with Brown, the Aggies attacked immediately and scored 5 goals in the first. The UC Davis onslaught calmed in the second with only one goal being added to the Aggie tota,l but UC Davis returned from half time and tossed another five points on the board to carry an 11-0 lead into the fourth quarter. The Bears scored their first and only goal of the game in the final period while the Aggies added two more goals to bring the final score to 13-1.

Katherine O'Rourke led the Aggies with an impressive four-point game versus the Bears. Freshmen Lindsay Kiyama and Sarah Odegard each had two goals apiece versus Brown.

"Before the Brown game I kind of challenged the team and told them we needed to come out and make a statement in the first quarter and we were able to do that," said Wright.

The Aggie season record now stands 8-7 overall and 4-1 in the WWPA with the loss to UC San Diego. UC Davis will return to action at home next Saturday, Mar. 4 with a game against WWPA opponent Santa Clara scheduled for noon at Schaal Aquatics Center.

UC San Diego 5, UC Davis 4

              1    2    3    4  OT1   FinalUC Davis      1    2    0    1   0      4UC San Diego  1    0    2    1   1      5

UC Davis Goals: Casie Mota 1, Katie O'Neill 1, Katherine O'Rourke 1, Christi Raycraft 1.
UC San Diego Goals: Nicole Hermann 2, Judy Emaus 1, Flynn LaRochelle 1, Britta Nordstrom 1.

UC Davis Goalie Saves: Lina Moore 9.

UC Davis 13, Brown 1

            1     2     3     4    TotalUC Davis    5     1     5     2     13Brown       0     0     0     1      1

UC Davis Goals: Katherine O'Rourke 4, Lindsay Kiyama 2, Sarah Odegard 2, Nicole Fisher 1, Cassie Schaefer 1, Christi Raycraft 1, Ashley Greenwood 1, Casie Mota 1.
Brown Goals: Emily Schwartz 1.

UC Davis Goalie Saves: Amber Korner 12.