UC Davis women’s water polo team competes in Aggie Shoot-Out, wins three of five games played
The UC Davis women’s water polo team made a splash at the Aggie Shoot-Out tournament last weekend. The Aggies played four games that counted toward their overall season record, and snatched the victories in three of those games, pushing their overall record to 10-6.
Beginning the tournament against Santa Clara, the No. 10 NCAA-ranked Aggies dominated their opponent, winning 15-6. UC Davis outscored Santa Clara in every quarter of the game. In total, seven different players put goals in the back of the net for the Aggies, with senior attacker Paige Virgil and junior attacker Emily Byrne each earning a hat trick to help propel UC Davis to a victory.
Facing No. 2 Cal in the second game of the tournament, the Aggies were not able to repeat their success of the first game, taking a brutal 16-1 loss. Senior center Greta Kohlmoos was the only Aggie to score.
Momentum for UC Davis picked up in the third game, however, against Cal State Monterey Bay. Similar to their dominant first game performance, 10 different Aggies earned goals to their name to propel the team to a 14-4 victory. It seemed as if the win for UC Davis was apparent after just the first period of play, scoring six goals and preventing Monterey Bay from scoring even once. The Aggies possessed a seven-point lead after the first half of play, and shut down their opponent in the third period of play, again not allowing a goal to be scored against them to bring their team to victory.
On Feb.18, UC Davis began their second day of play against Fresno State, which they won 18-9. On the offensive end, it was Virgil who shined for the Aggies, scoring an overwhelming six goals on the match. Senior attacker Sammy Preston also had an impressive performance, earning a hat trick. UC Davis finished each period of play with a minimum of four goals, outscoring the opponent in every period and not giving much room for Fresno State to come back.
Right after their game against Fresno State, it was right back in the pool as the tournament was rounded out for the Aggies in an exhibition against China’s National Team, where they took a 15-5 loss. China put six goals in the back of the net before the Aggies were able to put one on the board. Freshman Emily Alkema earned two goals in the match. If competing against a national level team isn’t hard enough, the Aggies did show defensive improvement statistically, limiting China to two fewer goals than they scored in their previous encounter on Jan. 20 of this year.
Because exhibition matches are not counted against a team in regular season the records, the loss to China did not harm the Aggies’ overall record, which is currently at 10-6.
UC Davis continues its season play this Saturday, Feb. 24 as the team travels to Santa Clara to compete in the Santa Clara Invitational.
Written by: Ryan Bugsch — sports@theaggie.org
