At the UC Irvine Invitational women’s water polo tournament, which featured a field of entirely top-20 teams, the Aggie women placed 10th. On the first day of action, 14th-ranked UC Davis defeated 17th-ranked UC San Diego 13-12 and fell to the Anteaters. On the second day of action, the Aggies defeated the Gauchos, but lost to Loyola Marymount. With that, the Aggies even their record at 7-7.
Senior Kathryn Bailey scored just 14 seconds into the match against UCSD, her third goal of the day, for her first career hat trick. Junior center Hannah Curran netted a career-high six goals in the thriller against the Triton. She scored two of the Aggies’ five goals in the first quarter, as well as two more in the fourth quarter.
UC Davis pulled away to an 8-5 lead midway into the second quarter before the Tritons fired two goals to tie the game. Melissa Bartow briefly gave UCSD a 9-8 lead in the final regulation period before Curran came back to tie the game. The two teams remained scoreless for the remainder of the period.
In the first overtime, Curran hit her sixth goal of the game to tie the game at 12-12. Sophomore Keelia Houston attempted to end the game, but was unable to connect on two shots in the final 26 seconds, forcing the sudden victory period.
Curran had a phenomenal game that night. She had one of the Aggies’ four scores in the afternoon loss to the Anteaters. UCI built a 3-0 lead on two goals by Katie Croghan, then pulled ahead 6-1 by the end of the first quarter.
Curran scored in the first quarter to give the Aggies some momentum. Later on, Jessica Dunn, Carmen Eggert and Hannah Breen scored. Jillian Wilding tallied five saves against the Anteaters.
On the second day of action, the Aggies competed at Corona Del Mar High School. The Aggies squared off against 13th-ranked UC Santa Barbara and 16th-ranked Loyola Marymount. Dunn and Eggert each scored three goals in the win over the Gauchos, as did Curran. Ending her weekend on a high note, Curran achieved a team-high 10 goals over the course of the games.
Sophomore Elsie Fullerton chipped in two goals and senior Danelle Kenny and freshman Courtney Weddle each added one. UC Davis held a 5-4 lead through the first quarter and piled up six goals in the second half to come away with the win. Wilding recorded six saves in the opener. The Aggies defeated the Gauchos 13-7.
The match against Loyola Marymount was starkly different as both teams matched up with each other goal-for-goal continuously. Fullerton and Eggert each scored two goals while Dunn netted the fifth. Freshman Haley Cameron, who earned her first collegiate start, finished with six goals.
Eggert was selected as the Big West Conference Player of the Week. This marks her fifth award and her first in 2013.
UC Davis returns home to host the two-day Aggie Shootout this weekend. The Aggies will face Concordia, Santa Clara and Colorado State on Saturday.
— Veena Bansal
