STANFORD, Calif. -- Junior Noelle Wijnbelt finished with a team-high four goals on the day, while teammate Julia Hartmann finished with a goal and three assists, as the No. 10 UC Davis women's water polo team battled a pair of top-10 foes at the Stanford Invitational on Saturday afternoon in the Bay Area.

The Aggies hung tough with a pair of Pac-12 Conference rivals, but could not hold off two second-half rallies, falling to No. 9 Arizona State, 15-10, and No. 4 California, 9-4. UC Davis fell to 5-3 overall, while the Sun Devils improved to 3-4 overall and the Golden Bears remained unbeaten on the season, moving to 10-0 with the win.

Remaining on the road, the Aggies return to the pool on Feb. 12, taking part in the annual Triton Invitational hosted by UC San Diego in La Jolla, Calif. UC Davis opens against Loyola Marymount on Saturday at 12:30 p.m., following by a match against either Michigan or Pomona Pitzer at 4:30 or 5:30 p.m. to close out day one of competition.

#9 ARIZONA STATE 15, #10 UC DAVIS 10
Noelle Wijnbelt finished with a hat trick and Julia Hartmann added three assists on the day as the Aggies hung tight with the Sun Devils before Arizona State pulled away with a big second half for the 15-10 victory.

The three goals for Wijnbelt marked the junior's third hat trick of the season to push her team-high total to 22 goals on the year. Alyssa Lengtat finished with two goals, part of an offense that saw seven UC Davis players find the back of the cage on the day.

Hartmann's three assists were a season high and tied for the most by an Aggie this season, matching Emily Aikema's three against San Jose State on Jan. 29, and Makenna Ferguson's three helpers against Cal State Monterey Bay in the season opener.

UC Davis matches ASU goal-for-goal through the first two quarters as Wijnbelt put the Aggies on the board to tie it at 1-1, while Aikema and Jordan Werkmeister scored back-to-back goals to forge a 3-all tie after one.

The two teams traded goals to start the second before Tess Fundter's score on the powerplay at the 5:38 mark gave the Aggies their first lead of the day. Lengtat's first score of the day pushed UC Davis' lead to two at 6-4 with 3:14 remaining and the Aggies held a 7-5 lead on a goal by Sam Yoo with 2:03 to play and a man-up. 

Arizona State answered with a goal by Vanda Baksa with 1:46 left in the half on a 5-meter attempt that sparked the decisve run as the Sun Devils rattled of six straight goals in the final two minutes of the second quarter, all of the third, and into the fourth, building an 11-7 advantage.

Scores by Lengtat and Wijnbelt clawed UC Davis back to within a pair of goals, but ASU scored four of the final five goals on the day to ice the victory.

Goalkeeper Sophia Noble finished with 11 saves -- her fourth double-digit save total in her last five contests.

The Sun Devils out-shot the Aggies, 36-27, shooting .417 on the day to .370 for UC Davis. Both teams finished 3-for-6 on the powerplay while ASU converted all three of its 5-meter opportunities.

#4 CALIFORNIA 9, #10 UC DAVIS 4
Four different Aggies found the back of the cage in the nightcap, but UC Davis could not hold back California in the second half as the Golden Bears outscored the Aggies, 4-0, over the final 16 minutes to break open a one-goal game at the break en route the the 9-4 win.

Wijnbelt, Hartmann, Allyson Clague, and Grace Pelkey, all scored goals for UC Davis, which led 3-2 after one quarter and was up 4-3 on Wijnbelt's even-strength goal with 5:25 left in the first half before the California defense clamped down.

Elli Protopapas scored her first goal of the game to tie the match at four and Kitty Lynn Joustra scored one of her five goals on the day on the powerplay with 2:04 remaining to give the Golden Bears a lead they would not relinquish.

UC Davis held a 31-23 advantage in shots, but shot just .129 from the field for the match. Cal goalkeeper Isabel Williams finished with 14 saves and a .778 save percentage on the afternoon to stymie the Aggie offense.
 

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