Stockton, Calif. - The No. 17 Pacific women's water polo team romped over Azusa Pacific, 15-7, in a Golden Coast Conference match-up on Friday at Chris Kjeldsen Pool.
Eight different Tigers scored as Morgan Hurley tallied her first career multi-goal game with two markers, Rachel Krieger scored four times, Karolina Hlavata three times and Viktoria Szmodics twice. Brinnley Barthels, Aelish Guinn, Catie Mahnke and Hannah Rapp also scored as Pacific registered a season-high 15 goals.
Krieger scored the first two goals of the game, ripping a shot to the right side, and finishing with a skip-shot in transition off a steal from Mahnke. The Cougars cut the Tigers lead to 2-1 as Mar Pastor lobbed a shot to the far post. Hlavata stretched the lead to 4-1 with back-to-back goals, as she placed a shot inside the left post, and then converted a breakaway into a near-side goal.
Pastor was surrounded by Tiger defenders, but she pushed shot through arms to the far post, and it trickled over to cut Pacific's lead to 4-2. Azusa Pacific trimmed the margin to 4-3 as Annalise Batcheller tallied from five meters out to the far right corner to close the first quarter.
In the second, Szmodics ripped a shot from five meters out to the top right corner, and then Krieger connected on a lob shot that Katie Margot got hands on, but couldn't pull down. Hlavata stretched the lead to four with a cross-cage goal to the far right as the Tigers led 7-3 at half.
Alba Espinar converted a five-meter penalty, tucking it under the bar. But Krieger took a pass in the center from Mahnke, spun and put a backhand inside the left post.
Barthels made it 9-4 as she whizzed a shot cross-cage from four meters away, and Hurley tallied her first from inside the two-meter, going short-side on Margot, as Pacific led 10-4 after three quarters.
In the fourth, Pacific drew an exclusion and Szmodics immediately tallied with a quick release from four meters away. Guinn stretched the lead to 8-4 with a goal from the center off an entry pass from Ellen Tiedemann.
Megan Myers scored the fifth goal for Azusa Pacific with 4:38 to go, before Hurley struck again with a bar-down lob shot over Margot off an assist from Rapo.
Mahnke tallied a 6-on-5 goal from the two-meter as Pacific led 14-5, before Myers tallied back-to-back goals, first on a five-meter to the top right corner and then to the top right on the near side.
Rapp capped the scoring with her first career goal, lobbing a shot cross cage from four meters away to settle on the final margin.
Hurley's two-goal day was her first career multi-goal game.
Alexis Hollinrake registered nine saves with five steals in goal for Pacific. Margot also finished with nine saves.
Pacific improves to 12-15 overall and 4-1 in Golden Coast Conference play and remain second in the conference standings. Azusa Pacific falls to 9-19 on the year, and 1-4 in GCC play.
The Tigers are back in action on Saturday at noon against Concordia, in a GCC game. Concordia sits at 1-14 overall and 0-4 in GCC play entering their Friday afternoon contest at Santa Clara
On Sunday, Pacific will face No. 5 UC Irvine at 11 a.m. on Senior Day.
