Palo Alto, Calif. - The No. 12 Pacific women's water polo team opened play at the Stanford Invite with losses to No. 5 California and No. 8 UC Davis Saturday.
The Tigers fell in the opener, 19-8 to Cal and then UC Davis pulled away for a 14-10 win in the afternoon session.
Rachel Krieger scored five goals on the day, three against Davis and two against Cal, while Viktoria Szmodics added three goals on the day, two vs the Aggies and one against the Bears. Karolina Hlavata tallied three total, while Brinnley Barthels and Megan Torre each posted two. Aelish Guinn and Ellen Tiedemann each added one.
The Aggies opened with a 2-0 lead on goals from Allyson Hansen and Carla Tocchini in a defensive first quarter. In the second, Pacific scored on the power play as Krieger capped a 6-on-5 to bring the Tigers within one. But Tocchini answered right back before Pacific reeled off three straight. Hlavata tallied to pull Pacific to within 3-2 and Szmodics brought the Tigers level. Szmodics put the Tigers in front, 4-3, and then posted a steal leading to a goal from Ellen Tiedemann, off a Hlavata pass for a 5-3 lead.
Tocchini completed her hat trick, and Heather Johnson drew UC Davis even at 5-5 before Hlavata tallied a 6-on-5 goal with 41 seconds left in the half. But Annie Kutt's goal with nine seconds remaining sent the game into the half tied 6-6.
UC Davis won the second-half sprint and UC Davis surged ahead with five-straight goals. Tocchini scored on the Aggies' first possession, Hannah Harvey and Ariel Arcidiancono tallied for a 9-6 lead with 4:06 left in the period. Kutt struck again and Greta Kohlmoos gave the Aggies an 11-6 lead.
Krieger finally snapped the run with her second, but Arcidiancono responded as UC Davis led by five, 12-7.
In the fourth, Krieger converted a five-meter penalty shot to bring the Tigers within four, 12-8. But Hansen restored a five-goal cushion with 4:53 to play. Bryn Lutz scored on a five-meter power play for the 14th UC Davis goal. Torre and Barthels tacked on goals to settle on the final margin.
Alexis Hollinrake recorded six saves, surrendering 10 goals, while Meghan Nee made a pair of saves with four goals against.
In the morning, the Tigers fell to No. 5 California, 19-8. The Tigers led 2-1 on goals from Szmodics and Hlavata before back-to-back Golden Bears goals. Szmodics tied the game on a 5-meter penalty shot. Pippa Saunders put Cal in front before Krieger's power-play goal tied the game with 11 seconds to go in the quarter. However, Carla Carrega scored for the Bears before the end of the first for a 5-4 Cal lead after one.
In the second, the Bears scored four goals and kept Pacific off the board to seize control. Megan Torre finally broke through with goal late in the third, but not before Cal had reeled off 10 consecutive goals building a 14-4 advantage leading up to Torre's goal.
Kreiger, Guinn and Brinnley Barthels added fourth quarter goals for Pacific.
Nee (three saves) and Hollinrake (two) split time in goal for the Tigers.
Pacific falls to 3-7 overall this season, all seven losses coming to the Top 11 in the polls.
