Fourth Quarter Heroics Save Hawaii From Aggie Upset

May 12, 2006

DAVIS, Calif. - The No. 5 seeded UC Davis women's water polo team fell to No. 4 seeded Hawaii, 12-7 on Friday evening in front of a large hometown crowd in the opening round of the NCAA Women's Water Polo Championship being held this weekend at UC Davis' own Schaal Aquatics Center through Sunday. Junior Cassie Schaefer led the team with a hat trick in a game that was tied seven seperate times.

With the loss the Aggies' record fell to 20-12 while the Rainbow Wahine now stand at 18-10. UC Davis will play in the consolation bracket against No. 8 seed Claremont-Mudd-Scripps at 3 p.m. on Saturday.

Junior Katherine O'Rourke opened up the game with a quick shot following a Hawaii exclusion assisted by Jessi Lafayette to give the Aggies the first lead of the game. A little over a minute later, Anna Sieprath added one for the Rainbow Wahine on a cross-cage shot converted from a fast break counter attack.

Several minutes ticked by before Iefke Van Belkum gave the Rainbow Wahine their first lead off of a layout shot with one minute and 19 seconds left in the first. As the last second wound down on the quarter, Sofia Patronas scored on a buzzer beating skip shot to tie the game at 2-2.

In the second period, Casie Mota scored off of a high corner shot from outside to take the lead for the Aggies. Hawaii struck back with back-to-back goals provided by Sieprath. With just 43 seconds remaining in the first half, Schaefer fired a shot that was tipped in by a Hawaii player to bring the score to 4-4.

Hawaii scored early in the third quarter on a six-on-five goal by Kristy Bagnall. Schaefer responded with a counter attack goal skipped into the low corner of the Rainbow Wahine cage. Sieprath responded with her fourth goal scored on a cross-cage shot. Offense lagged on both ends for several minutes before the Aggies regained the lead with a four-meter penalty shot by Christi Raycraft followed by a bar down six-on-five goal by Schaefer to bring the score to 7-6.

Just when it appeared as if UC Davis might take the lead into the final quarter, Sieprath tallied her fifth goal of the game to tie things up at 7-7.

In the fourth quarter, the Rainbow Wahine came out fighting. Kelly Mason posted a hat trick in the fourth while Van Belkum tallied two more goals. The Aggies were held scoreless in the fourth quarter, coming away with the 7-12 loss.

"It was a heck of an effort they put in and I couldn't be more happy if they won," said head coach Jamey Wright.

Hawaii advances to Saturday's semifinals against USC. The Rainbow Wahine were the first team to beat the undefeated Women of Troy two weeks ago at the Mountain Pacific Sports Federation conference championship.

Hawaii 12, UC Davis 7

           1     2     3     4      FinalHawai      2     2     3     5        12UC Davis   2     2     3     0         7

Hawaii Goals: Anna Sieprath 5, Kelly Mason 3, Iefke Van Belkum 3, Kristy Bagnall 1.
UC Davis Goals: Cassie Schaefer 3, Christi Raycraft 1, Katherine O'Rourke 1, Casie Mota 1, Sofia Patronas 1.

Hawaii Goalie Saves: Meike De Nooy 7.
UC Davis Goalie Saves: Amber Korner 7.

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