The Aggies just narrowly miss an at-home win
By DANIELLE WIRNOWSKI — sports@theaggie.org
The UC Davis women’s water polo team returned to the pool on April 5 for their first home game of the season. Coming back from their loss to the University of Hawai’i at Mānoa the previous week, the Aggies were ready for a chance to fight for a win against California State University, Long Beach.
The Aggies put up a vicious fight against Long Beach, who entered the game with determination after facing a loss against Stanford University. The Aggies started off the first quarter strong, with Sam Yoo, a fourth-year human development major and utility, scoring her first goal of the game within the first two minutes of gameplay. However, Long Beach quickly tied the score with a goal of their own.
Just one minute after Long Beach scored, Margo Tempel, a first-year neurobiology, physiology and behavior major, scored her first goal of the game. Tempel’s goal brought the Aggies into a brief lead with a score of 2-1 before Long Beach scored yet again to tie the score at the end of the first quarter.
The start of the second quarter was a struggle for the Aggies, as Long Beach scored two back-to-back goals within the first three minutes of gameplay, bringing the score to 2-4. However, Yoo took this challenge to score her second goal, with an assist by Bridget Miller, a second-year human development major and center, within minutes after Long Beach scored, giving the Aggies a fighting chance.
Long Beach shut down this chance with a fifth goal of the game two minutes after Yoo’s goal, pushing the Aggies down by two goals. Nonetheless, Tempel scored her second goal of the game in the last second of the second quarter, bringing the score to 4-5, with the Aggies trailing close behind Long Beach.
After the back-and-forth scoring of the first half, the Aggies returned to the second half with a strong determination to get more scores on the board. Entering the third quarter one point behind, the Aggies put up a strong defense against Long Beach. Unfortunately, due to a penalty, Long Beach was able to score an additional goal in an unguarded shot, bringing the score to 4-6.
The Aggies came back offensively after multiple attempts at a goal for the next few minutes in the third quarter. With a timeout called four minutes into the third quarter, the Aggies were able to put together a plan and regroup.
Their planning paid off as Chelsea Johnson, a second-year human development major and center defender, scored a fifth goal for the Aggies, with an assist by Maddie Sumner, a third-year psychology major and attacker. This celebration did not last long, as Long Beach scored another unguarded shot at the Aggies, bringing the score to 5-7.
Lillie Vehling, a second-year mechanical engineering and statistics double major and attacker, went on the offensive and scored a sixth goal for the Aggies with just over two minutes left in the third quarter. Following this goal, Long Beach called a timeout with 45 seconds left in the third in an effort to strategize how to maintain the lead against the Aggies. Long Beach proceeded to score another goal with seven seconds left in the third, bringing the score to 6-8.
Long Beach continued the attack in the fourth and final quarter as they attempted to score within the first 30 seconds, only to be blocked by the Aggies. The Aggies came back with an attempted goal right after Long Beach’s attempt, though they were unsuccessful.
Long Beach called another timeout two minutes into the final quarter, following up with another goal seconds after the timeout ended. The Aggies’ Ally Smith, a third-year economics major and attacker, took the ball and scored a goal for UC Davis just seconds after Long Beach’s score. Unfortunately, this would be the last goal that the Aggies would score in the game.
Long Beach followed up this goal with another one of their own, with only three minutes and 30 seconds left in the game, bringing the score to 7-10. Tensions between players and fans reached an all-time high in the last few minutes of the game, with multiple attempts on the goal by both teams, though neither team scored.
The Aggies, in a last-ditch effort, brought their goalie into the field to attempt to score within the last seconds of the game, ultimately missing the goal. Overall, it was a very exciting matchup with both teams fighting for a spot in the Big West Conference Championships. The Aggies will return to their home pool as they host the Big West matchup against UC Irvine on April 12 at 12 p.m.
Written by: Danielle Wirnowski
