SANTA BARBARA, CA. (Jan. 21, 2024)- The Whittier College Women's water polo team continued their play at the Santa Barbara Winter Invitational Sunday. The Poets captured their first victory of the year in their first game of the day against the Ottawa University Spirit (AZ.), before coming up short against UC San Diego in their second game. 

Game 1: 
In the first game the two teams put on a scoring frenzy with the Poets ultimately capturing the 16-15 victory in overtime. Jaycee Morris put on a show this game finishing with 10 total points. As the game began the Spirit got out to an early 2-0 lead, but Morris was ready to start her magical day. The senior center netted the next 2 goals of the game and brought the teams to a tie. With a little under 2 minutes left in this first quarter, Miranda Alvarez found the back of the net to give the Poets a 3-2 lead. 

The second quarter provided a lot more offense from both teams, with each of them scoring 4 more goals. Morris alone had 3 goals this period and as the teams headed to halftime the score was 7-7. 

As the second half began, the Poets took control of this game in the third. 4 different girls were able to find the back of the net in this period. Alexandra Haluska, Margarita Moreno, Chloe Gardhouse, and Morris all scored goals this quarter and Whittier had a 12-9 lead heading to the final period. 

The fourth period saw Ottawa make a comeback. The Poets were not able to find the back of the net like the previous quarters and as the horn sounded to end the period, the game was tied 13-13. 

Headed to overtime Whittier would need to recapture the offense they showed in the first 3 periods. In the overtime period, Emily Flores, Haley Kivett, and Haluska all scored to capture a 16-15 victory for the Poets. Morris was the star this game finishing with 6 goals, 4 assists, 2 drawn exclusions, and a steal. Gardhouse had a fantastic game in her own right, coming away with 3 goals, 5 assists, a drawn exclusion, and an amazing 7 steals. Haluska finished with 3 goals, including the game-winning goal against Ottawa. 

Game 2: 
The second game of the day was against the #10 team in the nation, UC San Diego. This game did not go as well for Whittier, as the girls were not able to get their offense going. Jaycee Morris scored her 7th goal of the day in the first quarter of this game, but this is where the scoring would end. The Poets would drop this game by a final score of 19-1. 

The Poets will have about a month off now to discuss and continue to build upon their game. When the team returns to play they will be headed to Fresno State to take part in the Bulldog Mini Tournament. Their first games will take place on February 17th at 11:30 against Fresno State and 4:00 against UC Merced.