RIVERSIDE— The Occidental women's water polo team lost both of its games last Saturday at the Cal Baptist Lancer Invitational. The Tigers fell to Azusa Pacific 10-2 in the first game and then to Fresno Pacific 6-5 in a thrilling second game.
Oxy fell behind early against APU, and never got on track. Trailing 3-0 midway through the second quarter, Oxy managed to get on the board when senior center Lindsay Albino scored her first goal of the season to cut the Cougar lead to two.
That was as close as Oxy would get in the game. APU followed with another score two minutes later to end the half with a 4-1 lead.
The Tigers wouldn't score again until the final minute of the game, when sophomore Nina Wheeler converted a power play for her first career goal. The Tigers had failed to score on eight previous 6-on-5 opportunities.
Senior goalies Sofie Munoz and Geneva Perez combined for 10 saves in the game.
FINAL 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
Occidental 0 1 0 1 2
APU 3 1 3 3 10
Occidental Stats:
Goals/Attempts: Wheeler 1/1, Albino-1/3, Appel-0/1, Shyba-0/1, Akiyama-0/1, McClafferty-0/2, Gill-0/3, Gibbs-0/3, Soot-0/1
Assists: Zurcher-1, McClafferty-1
Steals: Gibbs-5, Munoz-2, Shyba-1, Wheeler-1, Soot-1
Turn-Overs: DesCombes-1, Albino-3, Zurcher-1, Gibbs-1, Soot-1, Yasuda-3
Exclusions/Drawn: Appel-1/0, Descombes-0/1, Shyba-0/1, Albino-0/2, McClafferty-2/1, Wheeler-0/1, Soot-1/1, Yasuda-0/1
Saves/Goals Allowed: Munoz-4/4, Perez-6/6
In the second game of the day, Oxy controlled the pace through the first 3 1/2 quarters, but a late rally by the Fresno Pacific led to a Tiger defeat.
The Tigers used a strong press defense to hold FPU to just one goal in the first half. Unfortunately, the Tiger offense wasn't much better as they managed just two scores.
Albino once again accounted for the team's first goal, while junior Katie Gibbs gave the Tigers a 2-1 halftime lead with her second goal of the season.
FPU tied the game early in the third quarter, but Oxy quickly fired back with two unanswered scores from Koral Gill and Carly Zurcher to make it 4-2 Oxy heading into the final quarter.
From there things went south for the Tigers. The two teams traded goals over the first 4 minutes of the fourth quarter, but the final 4 minutes belonged to FPU.
The Sunbirds would score the game's final three goals, including the game winner on a back-hand shot with 1 second on the clock, to pick up the come-from-behind victory.
The loss drops Oxy's over-all record to 1-3 on the season, and marks the first time in school history the Tigers have lost to the Sunbirds.
FINAL 1st 2nd 3rd 4th TOTAL
OCCIDENTAL 1 1 2 1 5
FPU 0 1 1 4 6
Occidental Stats:
Goals/Attempts: Gill-2/6, Albino-1/5, Zurcher-1/2, Gibba-1/4, Shyba-0/1, McClafferty-0/1, Soot-0/3
Assists: Shyba-1, Soot-1, Munoz-1, Perez-1, McClafferty-1
Steals: Albino-2, McClafferty-2, Munoz-1, Shyba-1, Akiyama-1, Gibbs-1
Turn-Overs: Descombes-3, Gibbs-3, Soot-2, Albino-1, McClafferty-1, Zurcher-1,
Exclusions/Drawn: Albino-1/3, Gibbs-1/1, Soot-1/1, Yasuda-2/0
Saves/Goals Allowed: Munoz-5/1, Perez-5/5
The Tigers return to action March 1-2 at the CalLufornia Invitational hosted by Cal Lutheran University. Oxy will match up against Long Beach State, Villanova University, Cal State Northridge, and Cal State East Bay at the two day tournament in Thousand Oaks, Ca.
