Women's Water Polo Semifinals Set for Saturday
April 30, 2010
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No. 2 USC 15, No. 7 San Diego State 5
The No. 2 seed USC women's water polo team (21-2) rallied from a 2-1 deficit at the end of the first period to defeat seventh-seeded San Diego State 15-5 in a quarterfinal match of the 2010 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA on Friday (April 30) morning.
The Trojans got on the board first when Joelle Bekhazi scored her 47th goal of the season at the 7:37 mark to put USC up 1-0. The Aztecs (20-14), got an equalizing goal from Leanne Ford (43rd on the year) with 6:16 left in the opening period. Kimmy Keach scored her 28th goal of the year to give San Diego State its first lead of the day with 3:45 left in the opening period. USC goalie Tumua Anae recorded two saves in the opening period, as did SDSU's goalkeeper, Kelly Campoli.
USC tied the score at two in the opening possession of the second quarter with Alexandra Kiss' 24th goal of the year at the 7:46 mark. SDSU got a rebound goal from Melissa de Jonckheere, her 31st of the season, to give the Aztecs there last lead of the day at 3-2 with 6:38 left in the second period. Then USC scored four straight goals in the period, all by different players, to build a 6-3 lead. Dominique Sardo (5:09), Sarah Van Norman (4:00), Forel Davies (3:26) and Patricia Jancso (2:45) all scored for the Trojans during the run. Alex Ford scored her 15th of the year for SDSU to end the scoring run for USC with 38 seconds left in the second quarter, trimming the deficit to 6-4. But Kristen Dronberger scored on the final possession of the period for USC with 17 seconds left to give the Trojans a 7-4 lead at halftime.
That goal would spark a run for USC, which scored nine straight goals after the sluggish start, while holding San Diego State scoreless for the next 15:52 of the second half. Bekhazi scored her second goal of the day to open the scoring in the third period at the 7:40 mark to put USC up 8-4. Kami Craig scored the first of her two goals of the period (5:19) to make it 9-4. Sardo scored her second of the day at 4:20 followed by Kiss' second goal at 3:40 to build USC's lead to 11-4. Craig ended the scoring in the third quarter with 1:33 left to give the Trojans a commanding 12-4 lead after three quarters.
Kiss completed her hat trick with 6:32 left in the fourth quarter, scoring USC's seventh straight goal. Jancso scored her second of the day to put the Trojans up 14-4 on a 6-on-5 opportunity at the 5:20 mark of the final period. Nicolina McCall scored her ninth goal of the season, which was USC's ninth-consecutive goal of the match, building the Trojan's lead to 15-4 with 4:26 left. Rachel Miller scored her seventh goal of the year for SDSU on a penalty shot with eight seconds left in the match, ending the scoring at 15-5.
Anae finished with nine saves in the cage for USC while Campoli recorded eight for San Diego State. The Trojans won the first three sprints.
USC advances to play the winner of No. 3 California vs. No. 8 San Jose State in Saturday's semifinal at 3:00 p.m.
SDSU will face the loser of the Cal/SJSU match in the consolation bracket at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
No. 3 California 7, No. 6 San Jose State 5
The No. 3 seed California women's water polo team (24-6) scored the first three goals of the match and never looked back, posting a 7-5 victory over sixth-seeded San Jose State in a quarterfinal match of the 2010 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA on Friday (April 30) afternoon.
The Golden Bears got on the board first when Stephanie Schnugg scored her 37th goal of the season at the 5:06 mark to put Cal up 1-0. Dana Ochsner scored her 33rd goal of the year to make it 2-0 with 3:57 left in the first period. Schnugg scored her second of the day at the 2:56 mark and Cal was off to a 3-0 lead. The Spartans (16-13), ended the scoring for the period with a power play goal by Kathryn Hannum, her 19th goal of the season, to trim Cal's lead to 3-1 at the end of the first period.
Cal increased its lead to 4-1 at the start of the second period when Schnugg completed the hat trick with 6:17 left in the quarter. The Spartans pulled to within two goals when Adriana Vogt scored the first of her two goals on the day on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 3:44 left in the second. But the Golden Bears got their own exclusion goal by Emily Csikos at the 3:05 mark, followed by a goal by Elizabeth McLaren (11th on the year) with 2:17 remaining in the first half to put Cal up 6-2. Vogt then scored her second goal with 2:10 left to make it 6-3. Csikos scored her second goal of the day (61st on the year) with at the buzzer to put the Golden Bears comfortably ahead 7-3 at the break.
That would be the final goal for California as the Spartans shut them out in the second half, thanks to six saves by Spartan goalie Meagan Minson in the final two periods. Dani Curran scored the only goal of the third period for San Jose State, and it happened on the first possession with 7:34 left in the quarter. The goal was Curran's 43rd on the year and pulled the Spartans to within three goals at 7-4.
Curran scored her second goal of the day and on the second possession of the fourth quarter (7:25) to end the scoring at 7-5. California's goalkeeper Stephanie Peckham made four stops in the final period, including one on a power play for SJSU to preserve the win.
Peckham finished with nine saves in the cage for California while Minson recorded eight for San Jose State. The Spartans won the first three sprints.
California advances to face No. 2 USC in Saturday's second semifinal at 3:00 p.m.
No. 6 SJSU will face No. 7 San Diego State in the consolation bracket at 11:30 a.m. on Saturday.
No. 1 Stanford 10, No. 8 Arizona State 5
The No. 1 seed Stanford women's water polo team (23-1) overcame a slow start to post a 10-5 victory over eighth-seeded Arizona State in a quarterfinal match of the 2010 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA on Friday (April 30) afternoon.
Arizona State (16-13) got on the board first when Sarah Harris scored her 37th goal of the season on a penalty shot at the 6:16 mark to put ASU up 1-0. Melissa Seidemann knotted the score at 1-1 on the next possession, scoring her 42nd goal of the year with 5:57 to go in the opening period. The Sun Devils regained the lead on an exclusion goal by Mariam Salloum, her 21st of the year, with 4:25 left in the first. Stanford ended the first period tied 2-2 after a goal by Vee Dunlevie (third of the season) with 1:35 to go in the first period.
Stanford took its first lead of the day on a 6-on-5 opportunity when Jessica Steffens scored her 16th goal of the year with 3:18 left in the second quarter, putting Stanford up 3-2. The Cardinal then pushed their lead to 4-2 on another power play goal, this time by Kelly Eaton (42nd goal of the year) with 1:22 left in the second period. Alyssa Lo scored her 19th goal of the year on a counter attack with just two seconds left in the first half, making it 5-2 Stanford at halftime.
Stanford scored the first goal of the second half on some nifty passing as Steffens found Seidemann in the middle for her second score of the day (6:22) to make it 6-2. The Cardinal got a goal from Annika Dries, her 29th of the year, to extend the lead to 7-2 with 5:41 left in the third period. Dries scored her second goal of the period on a power play with 3:10 left, marking the seventh straight goal by Stanford. Lynlee Smith snapped the Cardinal's scoring run with a goal, her 49th on the season, to make it 8-3 with 1:55 remaining in the third. ASU got a power play goal from Shannon Haas with 30 seconds left to end the scoring at 8-4 Stanford after three quarters.
The Cardinal struck first in the final period when Jillian Garton skipped one past ASU goalie Amanda Young with 7:38 to go. Bonnie Miles answered with a skipper of her own past Stanford keeper Kate Baldoni, her 20th goal of the year, with 5:20 left to trim the lead to 9-5. Stanford scored the final goal of the game for a 10-5 victory when Pallavi Menon scored her 31st goal of the year with 3:26 to go in the fourth period.
Baldoni finished with nine saves in the cage for Stanford while Dana Harvey recorded two saves for Arizona State in the first half and Amanda Young recorded one in the second half. The Cardinal won the first and last sprint of the day.
Stanford advances to face the winner of No. 4 Hawai'i and No. 5 UCLA in Saturday's first semifinal at 1:30 p.m.
No. 8 Arizona State will face the loser of the Hawai'i/UCLA match in the consolation bracket at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.
No. 5 UCLA 8, No. 4 Hawaii 6
The No. 5 seed UCLA women's water polo team (18-7) held on to post an 8-6 victory over fourth-seeded Hawaii in the last quarterfinal match of the 2010 MPSF Women's Water Polo Championship at Spieker Aquatics Center on the campus of UCLA on Friday (April 30) afternoon.
UCLA pitched a shutout in the first period behind some stellar play in the cage by Caitlin Dement. Emily Greenwood got the Bruins on the board with her 14th goal of the season at the 2:16 mark of the first period. Kelly Easterday put UCLA up 2-0 with a penalty goal with 12 seconds left, her 21st goal of the year.
Hawaii scored first in the second period when Monika Eggens scored her 54th goal of the year on a 6-on-5 opportunity with 5:13 left in the second quarter. Then the Bruins scored three straight goals to race out to a 5-1 lead. Grace Reynolds scored the first of her two goals in the period with 3:30 left. Then Sarah Orozco scored her 19th goal of the season with 2:14 to go, followed by Reynolds' 32nd goal of the year with 1:33 left in the second period. Hawaii scored back-to-back goals to end the period. Carmen Eggens scored her 39th goal at the 1:15 mark while Dagmar Genee put in her 19th on the season with 14 seconds left to cut the Bruins' lead to 5-3 at halftime.
Hawaii pitched a shutout in the third period and tied the score at 5-5 with two more goals from Monika Eggens, who scored at 5:21 and on a power play at 1:05 in the third period to complete the hat trick. Hawaii should have had the lead at the end of three periods but had to settle for a tie when Dement made a huge stop around the 3-minute mark with Hawaii on a 6-on-4 opportunity.
The Bruins struck first in the final period when Noel Umphrey scored (2nd goal of the season) on the opening possession of the fourth at 7:39. Reynolds made the eventual game-winning goal, completing her hat trick in the process with 1:51 to go in the match, putting UCLA up 7-5. Hawaii answered on its next possession with a goal from Amarens Genee, her 26th of the year, making it 7-6 with 1:24 remaining. Reynolds iced the match with her fourth goal with 37 seconds left to end the scoring at 8-6.
"It feels fantastic to win," UCLA head coach Brandon Brooks said. "We showed great composure down the stretch today. Tomorrow's semifinal is a big game, but it is the time of year where you have to win big games if you want to advance. It will be a lot of fun."
Caitlin Dement was stellar in the cage for UCLA recording nine saves, including registering five of those saves when Hawaii was on power play opportunities. Serena Bredin registered six stops for Hawaii. UCLA won all four sprints.
No. 5 UCLA advances to face No. 1 Stanford in Saturday's first semifinal at 1:30 p.m.
No. 4 Hawaii will face No. 8 Arizona State in the consolation bracket at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday.