Davis, Calif. - UC Davis split the opening day of the Barbara Kalbus Tournament in Irvine on Friday, falling to CWPA No. 1 UCLA 11-6 in the morning but defeating No. 11 UC San Diego 11-8 in the evening.
The 10th-ranked Aggies moved to 10-6 on the season with Friday's games. The tournament hosted by UC Irvine runs through Sunday. The Aggies won't know their next opponent until Saturday morning. They'll play the winner of Hawai'i and Michigan at 1:30 p.m.
The morning session against the top-ranked Bruins saw UCLA jump out to an early 5-1 lead with
Hailey Williams' power play goal with 1:05 left the Aggies lone score in the period. Noelle Wijnebelt scored another goal on a power play in the second that made it 5-2 and
Grace Pelkey cut it to 7-3 in the third with a goal. UC Davis outscored the Bruins 3-2 in the fourth with Wijnebelt,
Emily Aikema and
Kelly Hungerford each scoring in the period.
UC Davis out-shot UCLA 26-20 and allowed the Bruins just one power play goal.
In the evening against No. 11 UC San Diego, the Aggies used a decisive fourth period to pull away after entering the fourth up 8-7.
Aikema scored with 6:13 to go and Hungerford and Alyson Clague scored 50 seconds apart to give the Aggies a more comfortable 11-7 advantage with 2:04 remaining. The Tritons had one final chance after scoring with 1:35 left and later drawing an exclusion on Aikema with six seconds to go but a turnover sealed UC Davis' seventh win over a ranked opponent this season.
