 |  |
No. 18 Pacific Begins Big West Action At No. 14 UC Santa Barbara And No. 17 Cal State Northridge
March 31, 2011
Stockton, Calif. - With 24 games and six tournaments under their belts, Pacific's women's water polo team sets out to defend their Big West (BW) regular season title with a road trip against the two conference opponents who stood in their way winning the program's first conference title during the 2010 season. The Tigers will travel down south to take on No. 14 UC Santa Barbara (UCSB) and No. 17 Cal State Northridge (CSUN) in the first two conference games of the 2011 season.
Pacific vs. CSUN and UCSB in 2010
In the final home series of the 2010 season Pacific, defeated then ranked No. 10 CSUN in a wild shootout. After five tie scores and six lead changes the Tigers took down the Matadors, 8-7, in sudden death on Saturday, April 17. Pacific trailed CSUN 6-5 with fewer than four minutes to go in the final frame when the Tigers found the back of the net to send the contest into double overtime. While each team was limited to one goal apiece during the first six minutes of overtime, 21 seconds into sudden death the Tigers delivered the final goal to hand the Matadors their only loss in conference play.
With only UCSB standing in their way of winning the program's first conference title the Tigers returned to the pool on Sunday, April 18, to take on the Gauchos. Even though the Gauchos managed to tie the game at 1-1 with 5:43 remaining in the first frame, Pacific maintained its lead after Siobhan Larsen (Mundelein, Ill.) scored the go-ahead goal on deflection off the crossbar with :33 remaining in the frame. Pacific went on to cruise to a 13-9 victory on goals from eight Tigers, and secured the No. 1 seed at the 2010 Big West Tournament.
CWPA Top-20 Poll
In the latest poll released by the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA), Pacific remained at the No. 18 spot. Prior to jumping up two spots in the March 9 poll, the Tigers had spent two weeks as the No. 20 team in the nation.
Pacific sets out to defend its BW regular season title on Saturday, April 2 in Santa Barbara, Calif., at 12 p.m. The Tigers then continue their trip down south with a 12 p.m. contest against Cal State Northridge on Sunday, April 3.
CWPA Top-20 Poll
| Rank | Team | March 23 Poll | Points |
| 1 | Stanford University | 1 | 100 |
| 2 | University of California | 2 | 95 |
| 3 | University of Southern California | 3 | 90 |
| 4 | University of California, Los Angeles | 4 | 84 |
| 5 | University of Hawaii | 5 | 80 |
| 6 | Loyola Marymount University | 6 | 75 |
| 7 | University of Michigan | 7 | 69 |
| 8 | San Jose State University | 9 | 65 |
| 9 | Arizona State University | 8 | 62 |
| 10 | Long Beach State University | 10 | 52 |
| 11 | San Diego State University | 11 | 48 |
| 12 | Indiana University | 12 | 45 |
| 13 | University of California, Irvine | 13 | 42 |
| 14 | University of California, Santa Barbara | 14 | 33 |
| 15 | University of California, Davis | 15 | 30 |
| 16 | Hartwick College | 16 | 27 |
| 17 | California State University, Northridge | 17 | 24 |
| 18(T) | University of the Pacific | 18 | 11 |
| 18(T) | Princeton University | 19 | 11 |
| 20 | University of California, San Diego | RV | 3 |
| RV | University of Maryland | 20 | 2 |
| RV | Iona College | RV | 2 |
| RV | California State Unviersity, East Bay | RV | 2 |
| RV | Mercyhurst College | RV | 1 |
| RV | California Baptists University | RV | 1 |
