April 28, 2006

LA JOLLA, Calif. - Despite a tight first quarter, which ended with a 2-2 tie, the UC Davis women's water polo team was able to defeat Cal State Bakersfield in the Aggies' opening round game on Friday at the 2006 Western Water Polo Association conference championships being held through Sunday at UC San Diego's Canyonview Aquatics Center. Junior Katherine O'Rourke led the Aggies with a hat trick in the win, bringing her team-leading season goal total to 45.

UC Davis' season record is lifted to 18-11 overall and 11-3 in WWPA action. The Roadrunners drop to 19-15 overall.

Only 28 seconds into the match-up, Jessica Soza opened up the scoring with a goal for UC Davis giving the Aggies an early 1-0 lead. O'Rourke furthered the Aggie lead to two points a couple minutes later before the Roadrunners scored back-to-back goals at the tail end of the quarter to tie the score at 2-2.

O'Rourke regained the Aggie lead in the second quarter when she scored on a man-up situation with 5 minutes and 39 seconds on the clock. Cal State Bakersfield evened the score a few minutes later with a six-on-five goal scored by Yulia Blinovskaya. With only 54 seconds left to play in the half, Katie O'Neill tallied her first goal of the game. Christi Raycraft followed, scoring with only 24 seconds remaining in the quarter giving the Aggies a 5-3 lead.

In the early minutes of the third, both teams failed to convert any goals until Raycraft fired in her second goal of the day with 2:16 on the clock. Just over a minute later, O'Neill also added her second goal to further the UC Davis lead to 7-3.

In the final quarter, O'Rourke tallied her third goal of the game early in the period. The Roadrunners managed two more goals in the fourth quarter, but it was not enough to overcome the Aggie lead. UC Davis took the 8-5 win.

UC Davis will face No. 3 seed Santa Clara in the tournament's semifinals on Saturday at 1:45 p.m. The Broncos defeated Sonoma State 12-4 in their first round game. The last time the Aggies faced Santa Clara was on March 3, UC Davis came away with a 10-5 win.

The tournament winner will receive an automatic berth into the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championships being held May 12-14 at UC Davis' own Schaal Aquatics Center.

UC Davis 8, Cal State Bakersfield 5

                 1      2      3       4     FinalUC Davis         2      3      2       1        8CS Bakersfield   2      1      0       2        5

UC Davis Goals: Katherine O'Rourke 3, Christi Raycraft 2, Katie O'Neill 2, Jessica Soza 1.
CS Bakersfield Goals: Amanda Ortiz 2, Yulia Blinovskaya 1, Emma Keogh 1, Jamie Baker 1.

UC Davis Goalie Saves: Not available.
CS Bakersfield Goalie Saves: Not available.