Honolulu, O'ahu - UC Davis held an early lead on UC San Diego in Thursday's Big West Championship quarterfinal in Honolulu but fell 11-12 on a last second goal by the Tritons.
Allyson Clague,
Noelle Wijnbelt, and
Grace Pelkey gave UC Davis a 3-0 lead and continued to hold a lead after goals by
Julia Hartmann and Wijnbelt to lead 5-4 with 2:25 left in the second period.
After the Tritons tied it at five heading into the half, Wijnbelt took over and kept the Aggies within striking distance. She evened the score seven, eight and again at 9-9 with 6:16 to go in the fourth period. Aikema tied it up at 10 with 3:57 remaining and again at 11-11 with 25 seconds remaining. It was a man-up goal by UC San Diego with one second on the clock that proved the difference.
Wijnbelt finished with five goals, giving her 58 on the season. That moves her into third on the UC Davis all-time career list while her 58 goals are the ninth-best single season total, despite missing time with an injury in 2022. She's also now cracked the top-ten career points list and is now sixth in program history with 217 career points.
The Aggies finish the season at 16-12 with a winning record in back-to-back seasons and four of the last five seasons.