Davis, Calif. - The No. 14 Pacific women's water polo team split a pair of games at the Aggie Shootout Saturday, downing No. 17 UC Santa Barbara, 7-6, while falling to No. 17 Wagner, 6-4.
Pacific (5-6) opened the day with a loss to Wagner, which is tied with UCSB in this week's poll at No. 17. The Tigers fell behind early, and had their comeback bid thwarted by the Seahawks. But the Tigers regrouped and rallied from down 0-2 to UC Santa Barbara to take a 6-3 lead and hold on for a 7-6 win in the nightcap.
Taylor Adair scored three goals in the win over UCSB, while Gracie Smith posted three against Wagner and one against UCSB.
Brenna Thomas and Tess Wardle gave UCSB a 2-0 lead after the first quarter, but Adair and Rachel Kreiger tallied to tie the game. After a UCSB goal, Adair sent the game into halftime tied at 3-3. The Tiger then took over with a three-goal third quarter.
Adair scored back-to-back goals for a 5-3 lead, and Brydie Pye's goal sent Pacific into the fourth quarter with a 6-4 lead. Anna Kertes stretched Pacific's lead to 7-4 with 3:43 to play. Despite a five-meter penalty to cut into the Tigers lead, Michele Relton slammed the door on the Gauchos with three saves in the fourth quarter.
Relton finished with 13 saves in the contest.
Against Wagner, Smith opened the scoring midway through the first with an even-strength goal, but the Seahawks answered on the ensuing possession with a goal from Lily Doerfler.
Ten seconds before the end of the first, Wagner took a 2-1 lead on Michelle Greenough's goal, one of five-straight goals by the Seahawks.
Wagner took a 4-1 lead into halftime, and stetted the lead to 5-1 in the third on a 6-on-5 goal from Megan Rodriguez.
The Tigers pulled within four on a goal by Smith with the advantage 44 seconds before the end of the third quarter.
After a Wagner goal, Smith completed the hat trick in the fourth quarter, while Anna Kertes added a five-meter penalty shot goal at the 2:05 mark.
But the Tigers couldn't draw sen on their final two possessions as the Seahawks ran out the clock. Relton made 15 saves, including seven in the third quarter allowing Pacific to get back into the game. But Wagner's Emily Riddle tallied nine saves, including four stops while the Seahawks were short-handed.
The Tigers will face No. 20 Santa Clara at 10 a.m. and No. 10 UC Davis at 3:15 (approx.) on Sunday.
