Ann Arbor, Mich. - The No. 9 Pacific women's water polo team split Saturday's action at the Michigan Wolverine Invite with a win over No. 13 UC Davis, 14-8, and a narrow 8-6 defeat to No. 5 Arizona State.
Viktoria Tamas led the Tigers with four goals against UC Davis, while Karolina Hlavata and Mariana Duarte each posted hat tricks. Kyra Christmas and Viktoria Szmodics each scored twice in the contest. Alexis Hollinrake made six saves with three steals in goal for the Tigers against UC Davis.
The Tigers fell to Arizona State, 8-6, in the first game despite a hat trick from Christmas. Tamas, Szmodics and Rachel Krieger also scored for the Tigers while Hollinrake made nine saves.
Against No. 13 UC Davis, the Tigers fell behind 2-0 in the first before Tamas scored off an assist from Hlavata and then Duarte tied the game at the 4:19 mark. Hlavata gave the Tigers a 3-2 lead with a goal before the end of the first.
In the second quarter, McKenna Hauss tied the game for the Aggies, before Christmas capped off a Tigers' 6-on-5 with a go-ahead goal. But Annie Kutt answered right back for UC Davis to tie the game at 4-4. Duarte struck again on the Tigers next possession and Szmodics picked up two straight goals for a 7-4 lead. Greta Kohlmoos drew the Aggies within two, before Duarte provided an 8-5 lead off a Tamas assist headed into halftime.
Christmas answered a Paige Virgil goal with her second of the game, and after Kutt scored for the Aggies, Tamas stretched the Tigers lead back to three at 10-7. The Aggies picked up a goal from Kathleen Schafle, but once again Tamas responded right away off an assist from Ellen Tiedemann for an 11-8 lead headed into the fourth.
Tamas opened the fourth with a goal off a Hlavata assist for a 12-8 advantage. Hlavata posted back-to-back goals in the fourth as the Tigers won 14-8 for their third win over the Aggies this season.
Against the Sun Devils, Tamas answered a goal from Lena Mihailovic and Krieger gave the Tigers a 2-1 lead after the first quarter. In the second, Stephanie Contreras tied the game for Arizona State with the only goal of the period.
Maud Koopman gave the Sun Devils their first lead at 3-2 in the third, but Christmas answered right back. However, ASU picked up a power-play goal 25 seconds later to retake the lead. Bente Rogge and Koopman added goals as the Sun Devils led 6-3. Alkistis Benekou and Christmas scored before the end of the third, but the 5-2 Arizona State quarter provided a 7-4 deficit for the Tigers.
Szmodics cut the gap to 7-5, but Rogge struck again. Christmas tallied her third with 4:15 to go to pull within 8-6 and the Tigers posted six defensive stops but couldn't come up with the two goals needed to tie the score.
Arizona State flipped the script on Pacific's usual keys to victory, as the Sun Devils cashed in on 3-of-5 chances with a power play and held the Tigers to 0-for-4 with the 6-on-5 advantage.
With five goals on the day, Christmas hit the 30-goal mark for the season.
The Tigers move to 8-6 on the season and will continue the Michigan Invite on Sunday against No. 18 Hartwick at 6:10 a.m. PT and No. 6 UC Irvine at 9:40 a.m. PT.
