Photo by: Tony Leon/ActionWestPhotography.com
SAN DIEGO, Calif. – The Whittier College women's water polo team proved to be a tough test for UC San Diego Saturday, as they dropped a tight 17-11 decision during the NCAA National Championship Play-In Game at Canyonview Aquatic Center.
Whittier earned a spot in the NCAA play-in game for the first time in program history with a 7-6 victory over Pomona-Pitzer in the Southern California Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SCIAC) Championships, which was the program's first SCIAC Championship Title.
The previous time these two teams met was back in 2013 during the Claremont Convergence where the Tritons pulled off the 17-3 win. Whittier wraps up 2015 21-15, 9-2 SCIAC finishing ranked No. 1 in the Collegiate Water Polo Association (CWPA) Polls for the first time in school history.
Angelica Hernandez struck first a minute in to put the Purple & Gold in front. After four minutes of defensive stands, UCSD was finally able to find the back of the net at the 3:47 mark from Kayla Fedler who tacked on another seconds later that gave the Tritons the lead 2-1.
Jenel Rivera (Whittier, Calif.) got into the mix with 1:21 to play in the first that knotted the game up at 2-2, Lauren Boyer thought she would give UCSD a one goal lead soon after but Rivera would again come up big with 27 ticks on the clock capitalizing on an exclusion that tied the game up once again.
Zyania Morales (Commerce, Calif.) would be called for a quick exclusion in the second, which Lani Tittle would use for the go ahead strike but would add another shortly after that extended the lead to two. The Poets had an opportunity to cut the deficit to one with a man advantage but could not capitalize allowing the Tritons to come down on the other end to push the lead to 7-4 at the break.
Out of the half, UCSD used four exclusions to push their advantage to 12-4. Isabella Gorrocino (East Los Angeles, Calif.) would finally stop the run with her first of the game at the 2:04 mark but Jolene Guilliana would move the deficit back to eight with 31 seconds left in the frame.
In the fourth the Poets would make one final push scoring six goals with three coming from Hernandez but it wouldn't be enough as UCSD would add four themselves to hold on for the victory.
Rivera and Hernandez led the Poets with four goals apiece and Caitlin Bronzan (Brentwood, Calif.) would pick up three saves in 32:00 minutes of action.
The Tritons will head to the eight-team field in Stanford at the Avery Aquatic Center on May 8-10. UCSD is slated to face No. 2 UCLA (24-2) on Friday at 3:30 p.m.
