April 29, 2018
Tournament Page
IRVINE, Calif. -- Aggie attackers Sammy Preston, Kathleen Schafle and Marcela Portales led their No. 2-ranked team with two goals apiece in the Big West Conference tournament's third-place match against No. 4 Long Beach State at the Anteater Aquatics Center on Sunday afternoon, but UC Davis eventually fell to an 11-8 final score against LBSU to finish their conference championship run in fourth place.
Long Beach State and UC Davis opened up the first quarter with five goals and four goals, resepctively, but it was senior utility Paige Virgil who netted the first goal just 30 seconds into the game. After the first goal, both teams switched off between scoring until the opposing team found an opportunity to score three in-a-row during the second-half of the quarter. Prior to that, though, both Schafle and Preston scored for UC Davis with one goal each, while Portales rounded out the first quarter with a goal 30 seconds left on the clock. Junior defender McKenna Hauss assisted Schafle's goal, while junior utility Annie Kutt helped out with Preston's and Portales's goals.
The Aggies temporarily brought the game to a 5-5 tie after Portales successfully put in her second goal, assisted by sophomore utility Abbey Pfefferlen; however, it was short-lived as LBSU netted the next two goals to bring them to a two-point lead. Schafle narrow the gap back to a one-goal difference after getting a goal in for her team within the last 44 seconds of the quarter.
The Aggies finally garnered a one-point lead as they entered into the first half of the third quarter after Kutt, assisted by Hauss, and then Preston, assisted by Schafle, scored one goal each to raise their score to a 8-7 UC Davis lead. Unfortunately, their lead did not last as Long Beach State pushed through to score the next three goals to take back their lead.
LBSU was able to maintain their lead throughout the duration of the dual, and eventually finished the game with an 11-8 victory after scoring another goal over the Aggies in the concluding quarter.
The UC Davis women's water polo team concluded their 2018 season with an 18-12 overall record, while Long Beach State, this tournament's third-place finisher, finished their season with a 13-14 record.
The Big West Conference's consolation match also marked the final appearances for six seniors: Preston, Virgil, Jill Bushman, Heather Johnson, Greta Kohlmoos, and Carla Tocchini. Virgil led the team this season in both goals and steals with 56 and 38, respectively, while Kohlmoos followed in second with 42 season goals.
Among other individual highlights, Kutt concluded her season with a top Aggie record mark of 48 assists, and racked in the most amount of minutes played this season with 569.
2018 BIG WEST CONFERENCE WOMEN'S WATER POLO CHAMPIONSHIP
Anteater Aquatics Complex (Irvine, Calif.)
No. 4 Long Beach State | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | - | 11 |
No. 2 UC Davis | 4 | 2 | 2 | 0 | - | 8 |
GOALS - UC DAVIS: Sammy Preston, Kathleen Schafle, Marcela Portales (2), Paige Virgil, Annie Kutt (1); LBSU: Maria Eleni Mimidi, Virginia Smith (3), Tori Morrissey, Alexandra Massier (2) Annabel Harman (1)
GOALIE SAVES - UC DAVIS: Caitlin Golding (6; 32:00) ; LBSU: Erin Patras (6; 30:32), Mimi Harris (2, 1:28).
CONNECT WITH WOMEN'S WATER POLO ON SOCIAL MEDIA:
UC Davis Women's Water Polo Facebook Page
UC Davis Women's Water Polo Twitter Page
UC Davis Women's Water Polo Instagram Page
ABOUT UC DAVIS
Providing a small-town community feel while providing a world-class academic experience, UC Davis is home to more than 37,000 students and centrally located between San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, and the Napa Valley.
Ranked among the top 10 public universities in the nation according to the Wall Street Journal and U.S. News and World Report, UC Davis offers nearly 100 graduate programs and more than 100 undergraduate majors across four colleges and six professional schools, including the world's top-ranked veterinary science and agriculture programs.
DON'T MISS OUT!
Tickets for all UC Davis sports are available by contacting the Athletics Ticket Office at (530) 752-AGS1, or by visiting us online at UCDavisAggies.com.
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