Women's water polo impressive in season opening tournament
ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's water polo team had a strong showing in its season debut, winning two of its four games at the Posada Royale tournament in Thousand Oaks. The Panthers balanced out tough losses to nationally ranked Division I programs - No. 15 Cal State Northridge and No. 9 Long Beach State – with decisive victories over Caltech and Fresno Pacific.
Game 1: Cal State Northridge 11, Chapman 7
The Panthers played tough in their opening game against the nationally ranked Division I opponent on Saturday morning. After falling behind 2-0 early, freshman driver Kate Staskus put Chapman on the board with the first goal of the season. Senior Samantha McLaughlin would add a second quarter goal bringing the score to 4-2 before CSUN went on a 3-1 run to finish the first half with a 7-3 lead.
Chapman came out with the hot hand in the second half, scoring three goals in the first three minutes, capped off by freshman Alison Quincy, who hit a shot with 5:09 remaining to bring the score to 9-6. Trailing 11-6 in the fourth quarter, McLaughlin scored her second goal of the game, but the Panthers failed to muster any more offense before time expired.
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2012-13/files/CU-CSUN.pdf
Game 2: Chapman 8, Fresno Pacific 4
Chapman jumped out to an early lead in Saturday afternoon's contest, scoring four unanswered goals in the first five minutes of the game en route to an 8-4 win.
Staskus led the way for the Panthers, scoring two goals, including the game-opener. Chapman cruised to a 4-1 first quarter lead on goals from Staskus, Julie Case, Keely Dulaney and Samantha Martin.
Goals from freshman driver Sara McAllaster and sophomore Riley Ford gave the Panthers a 6-1 advantage entering the second half, where goalie Kirsten Spicer held off a late rally by Fresno Pacific to secure the win.
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2012-13/files/FPU-CU.pdf
Game 3: Chapman 15, Caltech 3
The momentum from the Panthers first win continued as they steamrolled past fellow-SCIAC member Caltech on Sunday morning. Thirteen different Chapman players scored while goalies Spicer and sophomore Jordan Gilmore shut down the Beavers offense.
Leading 4-2 after the first quarter, Chapman went on a 4-0 run to close out the half, capped off by a goal from Quincy. The freshman would start the scoring in the second half as well, netting her second goal of the game less than two minutes after the break.
Caltech's Hanna Dodd scored the Beavers' third and final goal with 5:31 remaining in the third quarter, just before the floodgates opened for the Panthers. Freshman Maddy Reeves pushed the Panthers' third quarter lead to 10-3 before five fourth quarter goals would put an exclamation point on the Chapman win.
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2012-13/files/CIT-CU.pdf
Game 4: Long Beach State 12, Chapman 2
In their second game against a nationally-ranked Division I opponent, the Panthers were unable to overcome No. 9 Long Beach State's offensive attack, dropping their final game of the tournament by a score of 12-2.
The 49'ers dominated the first half, shutting out the Panthers to take a 7-0 lead into the break. Chapman would get on the board in the third quarter as Martin brought the score to 9-1. Quincy would add another goal for Chapman with just five seconds left in the quarter, but the rally stopped there as Long Beach secured the win with three fourth quarter goals.
Boxscore: http://www.chapmanathletics.com/sports/wwaterpolo/2012-13/files/CU-LBSU.pdf
The Panthers will open up their home schedule on Wednesday at 4 p.m. versus Villanova before heading on the road for another tournament, March 8-9 at Claremont.
by Ryan Cavinder
Sports Information Assistant
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