Women’s water polo
No. 16 UC Davis split its first weekend of the season at the Spartan Invitational in San Jose, finishing 2-2.
Opening the year against Big West Conference foe No. 8 UC Santa Barbara, junior Jessica Dunn led UC Davis with three goals in a 12-8 victory over the Gauchos. Dunn also added another goal in the Aggies’ loss to Cal.
In addition to Dunn’s hat trick, seniors Ariel Feeney and Alicia Began and freshman Allyson Hansen each tallied two goals. Davis scored four unanswered goals during a span that stretched from the end of the second through early in the third periods.
During the late afternoon game, the Golden Bears stormed out to a 7-1 lead within the first 12 minutes of action. Junior Carmen Eggert netted a pair of goals to trim the lead to 8-4, but Cal was just too much in the end, as the Bears won 13-5.
Head coach Jamey Wright played three of his four goalkeepers and 20 of his 21 field players at some point during Saturday’s action.
The second day of play ended with the same results as the first. Freshman center Allyson Hansen notched her first collegiate hat trick in the 13-6 win over Santa Clara. Feeney and Dunn each added two goals to assist Hansen in the win over the Broncos.
Against host No. 5 San Jose State, Eggert scored the game’s first goal; however, the Spartans responded with three unanswered and took a 5-2 lead into halftime.
Feeney later scored again early in the fourth quarter to bring UC Davis within a single goal at 6-5, but San Jose State scored on the next possession and held a two-goal margin the remainder of the game to hand the Aggies an 8-6 loss.
The Aggies return to action on Saturday at the Cal Invitational in Berkeley. UC Davis will have a rematch against San Jose State in the morning and then finish the day against defending NCAA champion Stanford at 4:30 p.m.
