Where: Anteater Aquatics Complex — Irvine, Calif.
When: Saturday, Feb. 22; Sunday, Feb. 23
The UC Davis Aggies women’s water polo team completed a successful weekend in Davis, Calif. as they defeated Bakersfield and Cal State East Bay (CSEB) during Sunday’s final day of action at the 34th Aggie Shootout tournament. Freshman Carla Tocchini scored six total goals on the day, and senior Alex Rawlinson scored four. The Aggies recovered from a 3-0 deficit to post a 10-6 win over Bakersfield in the first match of the day before blowing out CSEB 15-4 to close out the tournament.
The Aggies went 3-2 during the tournament, scoring a win over Sonoma State, 14-6, on Feb. 15 as well as the wins over Bakersfield and CSEB. On Feb. 14, the Aggies lost a hard fought battle to No. 12 ranked San Jose State University (SJSU), 12-10, and then lost to No. 2 Stanford on Feb. 15, 17-5. Tocchini recorded a hat trick during Saturday’s action, while Rawlinson again posted good numbers as well, scoring another three goals on the day. In the SJSU loss, sophomore Allyson Hansen, junior Elsie Fullerton and senior Hannah Curran all scored two goals for the Aggies.
Both losses this past weekend came against top programs and quality teams, so no head hanging will be necessary during this week. The Aggies will instead look forward to their next tournament, the UC Irvine Invitational, on Feb. 22-23 where they have been drawn to compete in a group featuring exclusively UC teams. The Aggies will play the host school, Irvine, at 11:45 a.m. on Feb. 22, and then will face either Cal or UC Santa Barbara later that afternoon.
The UCI tournament field will feature the top five ranked teams in the nation with No.1 USC, No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 UCLA all competing alongside Cal and UCI who round out the top five. It will be a huge challenge for the Aggies to emerge unscathed, but with the matches against SJSU and Stanford last weekend already giving them the experience and knowledge needed of just what will be required to gut out a win against a fellow top team, UC Davis should be right in the mix on the last day of the tourney.
— Vic Anderson
