PALO ALTO, Calif. - The women's water polo team defeated Cal Lutheran, 16-4, in the first round of the NCAA Championships on Tuesday.
The Tigers (18-8) breezed past the Regals in their NCAA Play-In match earning their tenth straight victory while advancing to the second round of the tournament. Cal Lutheran finishes their season with an overall of 21-9, 12-2 in conference.
Pacific vs. Cal Lutheran (NCAA Play-In Round) - In Case You Missed It:
- A five-goal effort by Conference Player of the year Kyra Christmas charged the Orange and Black. The junior from Calgary, Alberta delivered a game-high 5-5 performance from the field scoring three of her goals off powerplay opportunities and four of them in the first half.
- The Tigers jumped out to a 4-1 lead following on frame and secured a manageable 7-2 advantage at the break. Eight UOP players would tack on a goal of their own including a pair from Savannah Fitzgerald and Mariana Duarte as well as a hat trick from freshman Toula Falvey.
- Pacific would limit the Regals to just one goal per quarter as they ended match 16-4. UOP would also convert 4-8 of their power play drives and hold Cal Lutheran to 1-11 on power play opportunities.
Notables:
- Kyra Christmas inched her way up the career leaderboards surpassing former Tiger Cari Bertrand for fourth all-time with 209 career goals.
- Mariana Duarte also hit the 150 career mark in goals scored on Tuesday. She becomes just the eighth player to do so in UOP history.
Up Next For the Tigers:
- Pacific competes against tournament hosts Stanford on Friday in the second round of the NCAA Championships
- The Cardinal (20-2) are coming off a 9-8 heartbreaker against MPSF Champions USC in their conference championship match.
- The two teams will face off at Avery Aquatic Center on Friday, May 10th, at 3:30 PM.
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