April 24, 2010
Long Beach, Calif. – Following a first round bye at the 2010 Big West Tournament, Pacific's women's water polo team dropped a 10-7 decision in the semifinal game to No. 16 UC Irvine.
With the semifinal contest underway UC Irvine's Caitlin Haskell put the Anteaters up 2-0 when she tallied consecutive goals at the 6:33 and 0:51 marks in the first quarter. Junior Dara Tawarahara (Honolulu, Hawai'i) found the back of the net with 0:14 remaining in the quarter to put the Tigers within one of UC Irvine.
In the second frame junior Meara McCarthy (Simsbury, Conn.) tied the contest at two all when she scored a goal at the 4:51 mark; however the Anteaters countered with two back-to-back goals at the 2:55 and 2:11 points. Junior Bridget Geck (Huntington Beach, Calif.) tallied a goal with 1:53 left in the half to make it a 4-3 game but UC Irvine's Trudy Chancellor scored a goal 27 seconds later to give the Anteaters the two point advantage heading into the half.
The Anteaters kicked off the third quarter taking the 6-3 lead at the 6:40 spot, but freshman Jasmine Myles (Auckaland, New Zealand) scored her first goal of the contest to keep the Tigers within two of UC Irvine. As the quarter was coming to a close the Anteaters tallied a goal at the 2:45 point for the three point lead, but junior Melissa Loper (Napa, Calif.) notched a goal to make it a 7-5 game.
In the final frame UC Irvine took the 8-5 lead at the 7:41 point but Geck found the back of the net for the second time in the contest to cut the Anteater lead to two. UC Irvine's Jessy Cardey gave the Anteaters the three point advantage on a five-meter penalty shot with 5:58 remaining in regulation. With 4:20 remaining on the clock Geck completed the hat trick when she scored Pacific's seventh goal of the contest. Nevertheless UC Irvine's Cortney Collyer found the back of the net at the 2:32 spot to help the Anteaters defeat the Tigers 10-7.
Junior Bridget Geck (Huntington Beach, Calif.) tallied three goals in the contest for Pacific while freshman Brooke Millar (Auckland, New Zealand) recorded nine saves in the cage for the Tigers.
With the loss the Tigers fell to 22-10 (4-1 Big West) while the Anteaters improved to 14-14 (3-2 Big West) on the year. The Tigers conclude action at the Big West tournament on Sunday, April 25 at 2 p.m. against the No. 14 UC Santa Barbara.
Scoring Summary
| |
Q1 |
Q2 |
Q3 |
Q4 |
Final |
| No. 12 Pacific |
1 |
2 |
2 |
2 |
7 |
| No. 16 UC Irvine |
2 |
3 |
2 |
3 |
10 |
Goals
Pacific: Geck 3, Myles, M. Loper, McCarthy, Tawarahara.
Goalkeeper Saves
Pacific: Millar 9.
