Feb. 3, 2007
Stockton, Calif. - The Pacific women's water polo team fell to No. 9 ranked UC Davis by the score of 16-8 on Saturday, February 3rd at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
With the loss, the Tigers fall to 0-2 on the season, while the Aggies improve to 4-0.
The first half of the game saw both team battle out a defensive struggle. UC Davis struck first in contest, as Christi Raycraft and Katherine O'Rourke both scored in the first two minutes of the first period to give the Aggies a 2-0 lead. The Tigers would answer back as freshman Kelsey Morino (Corona, Calif.) found the back of the cage, scoring her first career goal with just three seconds remaining in the period to make the score 2-1.
In the second period the Tigers continued their momentum as junior Kellie Fletcher (Roseville, Calif.) scored to tie the game at 2-2 :59 seconds into the period. Ashley Chandler had the answer for the Aggies, scoring with 5:46 left in the period, allowing the Aggies to retake a 3-2 lead. Not to be outdone, redshirt junior Virginia McConnell (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada) would tie the score at 3-3 with 4:12 remaining. As both teams looked as if they would head to the halftime break with a tie score, a costly exclusion gave the Aggies a 6-on-5 with 1:20 remaining that they capitalized on as Casie Mota scored her first goal of the contest to give the Aggies a 4-3 halftime advantage.
The start of the second half saw Mota again find the back of the cage to extend the UC Davis lead to 5-3 with 7:05 remaining in the third, before Fletcher scored her second goal just :16 seconds later to pull Pacific back to within one. The Aggies then came back :14 seconds later to retake a two goal advantage at 6-4 on Raycraft's second goal of the game.
Later in the period, Pacific would again mount a charge as freshman Sarah Harris (Cape Town, South Africa) took advantage of an Aggie exclusion, finding the back of the cage on the 6-on-5 power play to again pull the Tigers to within one at 6-5 with 3:43 left in the third. But it was as close as Pacific would get as UC Davis scored the last three goals of the period to take a 9-5 lead into the fourth.
The start of the fourth saw the two teams trade goals as Ashley Chandler and Jessica Soza scored for the Aggies and the Tigers got two goals from Harris to make the score 11-7 with 6:15 left. UC Davis then scored four straight goals before the Tigers were able to answer with a five-meter penalty goal from Harris to make the score 15-8 with 1:32 left. The Aggies went on to score one more goal before the final buzzer, making the final score 16-8 in favor of the visitors.
For the Tigers, Harris ended the game with four goals, all of which came in the second half, while Fletcher added two. In goal, junior Jocelyn Gray (Strathmore, Alberta, Canada) made 10 blocks, facing 38 Aggie shots, while adding an assist and two steals.
For the Aggies, Mota ended the game with four goals and three sprints, while Chandler and Raycraft added three each. Amber Korner made two blocks for the Aggies, facing 17 Pacific shots.
For the game the Aggies were 2-7 on 6-on-5 chances while the Tigers were 1-3, while scoring on the games lone five meter attempt.
Pacific is next in action on Saturday, February 10th as they host No. 3 Stanford at Chris Kjeldsen Pool. Opening sprint is scheduled for 12 noon.
Pacific: 1-2-2-3 = 8
UC Davis: 2-2-5-7 = 16
Goals:
Pacific: Harris 4 (5, 6, 7, 8), Fletcher 2 (2, 3), McConnell (2), Morino (1)
UC Davis: Mota 4 (7, 8, 9, 10), Chandler 3 (2, 3, 4), Raycraft (7, 8, 9), Greenwood (4), Lowe (1), O'Rourke (6), Schaefer (5), Soza (3), Stephenson (1).
Goalie Blocks:Gray (PAC) 10, Korner (UCD) 2
Sprints: Mota (UCD) 3, Kiyama
