April 27, 2008

Box Score

Official Scoresheet in PDF Format

LOS ANGELES -- Senior attacker Christi Raycraft scored three goals while a trio of Aggies added two each to lead UC Davis to a 10-9 win over Loyola Marymount in the Western Water Polo Association women's title game at Burns Recreation & Aquatics Center Sunday afternoon. With the victory, the Aggies earn the conference's automatic qualifying berth to the NCAA Championship at Stanford in May.

UC Davis, the top seed in the tournament and ranked T9th nationally, ties its school record for wins with a 26-8 overall record. The 12th-ranked and second-seeded Lions finish their season at 20-11.

Senior centers Laura Uribe and Madeline Stephenson and junior attacker Lindsay Kiyama each scored two goals for UC Davis, which overcame a 4-2 deficit in the first quarter en route to the win. LMU junior Nicole Hughes led her team with three goals, two of which came on 6-on-5 situations. Senior hole set Alexandra Wike and freshman Diana Romero had two goals each for the Lions.

Romero scored both of her goals in a 4-2 first quarter for LMU, but UC Davis emerged in the second period. Uribe opened the quarter with a goal in the first minute, the first of five Aggies scores in the period. Raycraft, who hit her first goal in the final seconds of the first period, added two in the second to put the Aggies up by a 7-6 margin at the break.

Kiyama hit goals at the 5:07 and 1:27 marks in the third period to extend the UC Davis lead to two goals, its largest edge of the game. After LMU freshman Mary Ann Campos cut the advantage to a single goal late in the third, Uribe converted a 6-on-5 chance early in the fourth to push the Aggie lead back to two.

"After the first quarter, I told the team that nothing has been easy in this tournament," said Aggie head coach Jamey Wright. "I told them to keep playing well -- we were going to score more than four goals before this game is over. We won the game in the second quarter. We shot the ball better after being a little tentative, getting more quality shots. Madeline Stephenson was huge off the bench for us. She scored on two lobs, which is her shot, against a goalie is perhaps susceptible to lobs."

LMU had an opportunity to tie the game in the final minutes. Hughes finished her hat trick with a natural goal with 45 seconds remaining, bringing the tally to 10-9. Then as UC Davis attempted to work the clock in the final possession, the Lions committed a major foul with 0:18 on the game clock and less than 10 remaining on the shot clock. The Aggies, armed with a fresh shot clock and a 6-on-5 advantage, proceeded run off the time and protect their win.

Soza and Uribe each earned WWPA All-Tournament honors, with Soza capturing the tournament MVP honors. Raycraft made the all-tournament second team.

"When you have such deserving seniors as we have, you're almost relieved to win this," said Wright. "Every team and every coach works hard to get to this tournament. But this group of seniors has come such a long way, that I don't think I could bear it if they didn't win it. This win is a tribute to this group -- they have done a tremendous job."

UC Davis returns to action at the NCAA Championship, hosted by Stanford from May 9-11. This is the second trip to the national tournament for the Aggies, who qualified for the event in 2006. It also marks the final WWPA tournament for the program, as UC Davis will begin play in the Big West Conference in 2009.

2008 WESTERN WATER POLO ASSOCIATION - CHAMPIONSHIP GAME

GOALS - LMU: Nicole Hughes 3, Diana Romero 2, Alexandra Wike 2, Sheena Carter 1, Mary Ann Campos 1. UC Davis: Christi Raycraft 3, Madeline Stephenson 2, Laura Uribe 2, Lindsay Kiyama 2, Jessica Soza 1.

GOALIES - LMU: Elaina Arellano 6 saves, 10 goals against (32:00). UC Davis: Casey Hines 2 saves, 9 goals against (32:00).

WWPA ALL-TOURNAMENT FIRST TEAM
Kim Hockett (UCSD) - GK
Freyja Berg (CSUSB)
Judy Emaus (UCSD)
Nicole Hughes (LMU)
Amy Lamb (Santa Clara)
Chelsea Laning (CSUMB)
Jessica Soza (UC Davis)
Laura Uribe (UC Davis)
Alex Wike (LMU)

WWPA ALL-TOURNAMENT SECOND TEAM
Randahl Capurro (SCU) - GK
Sydney Gstettenbauer (UCSD)
Petra Koudelkova (CSUB)
Samantha Mullins (SSU)
Christi Raycraft (UC Davis)