Irvine, Calif. - The Pacific women's water polo team dropped a pair of games to open the SoCal tournament at the UC Irvine Invitational Saturday, falling to No. 2 Stanford and No. 12 San Jose State.
Taylor Adair scored five goals in the two games, but Stanford took a 11-3 win in the opener and San Jose State pulled out an 11-8 win in the second game. Gracie Smith and Rebecca Wright each added two goals for Pacific. The Tigers fall to 4-9 on the season.
In the afternoon's contest, San Jose State's Rae Lekness set her school's record with eight goals. The Spartans took a 5-3 lead through one quarter. The Tigers scored a second-quarter goal, but San Jose State matched for a 6-4 lead at the break. Pacific found the back of the net twice in the third quarter, but San Jose State maintained the two-goal lead before keeping the Tigers at bay in the fourth.
Four of Adair's goals came in game two, with Smith adding two goals. Wright and Brydie Pye also tallied for Pacific. Meghan Nee posted five sets in goal for the Tigers, but Spartans' keeper Maddie Reardon tallies seven.
In the opener, Stanford jumped out to a 4-0 lead and didn't look back in an 11-3 win.
Pacific scored two second-quarter goals, by Kelsey Carter and Wright, but the Cardinal took an 8-2 lead into the break. After the Tigers played the third quarter even with Adair tallying a goal for Pacific and the Cardinal tacking on one more, Stanford added a pair in the fourth to move on to the quarterfinals.
Nee made four saves in net for Pacific vs the Cardinal, with a pair of goalkeepers combining for four for Stanford.
The Tigers will face either San Diego State or Hawai'i on Sunday, at 11:45 at Corona del Mar High School Pool, and finish up the tournament at either 4 p.m. or 5:15 p.m.