Women's water polo falls in OT in final home match
ORANGE, Calif. – The Chapman University women's water polo team suffered a 5-4 overtime defeat to Redlands to close out its home schedule on Wednesday. The Panthers celebrated the careers of their five seniors prior to the match.
The Panthers' five seniors played in their final home match with Kerry Goodspeed making the start in goal while Mary Welton, Julia Furtado, Andi Sandoval and Ellie Peterson all started in the field. Sandoval dished out two assists on the night while Peterson scored a goal and assisted on another.
Freshman Audrey Hattori scored two goals to lead the Panthers offensively but Chapman was shutout over the final 15 minutes as Redlands scored the last two goals of the match for the comeback win.
Peterson put Chapman on the board just over one minute in. After that, the Panthers never trailed until the end of the first overtime period. Michelle Na responded for Redlands a minute and a half later to even the score at 1-1 and neither team found the back of the net for the rest of the quarter.
In the second, the Panthers shut out the visiting Bulldogs and Hattori threw in the only goal for the Panthers to take a 2-1 lead. Hattori struck again early in the third for a 3-1 Panther lead. However, Redlands notched back-to-back goals to tie the match back up at 3-3. Freshman Emily Whitney, who won five sprints for Chapman, found the back of the net with 1:35 remaining in the third to put Chapman back up 4-3.
The defensive struggle amped up in the fourth as both sides desperately fought for a goal – Redlands to equalize and Chapman for insurance. With just over two minutes remaining, Na shot from distance and hit the crossbar. The ball deflected down to the water where the referees ruled the ball crossed the goal line to tie up the game at 4-4.
The Panthers earned a few chances to regain the lead but weren't able to score the go-ahead goal as the match went into overtime. Neither team could get much going offensively but the Bulldogs pushed in a goal just as time expired in the first three-minute OT period to take the lead 5-4.
Chapman had a chance to equalize in early in the second OT period as Hattori came away with a steal and sprinted down the pool on a breakaway. Her shot skipped off the water and was denied by Redlands' Allison Totzke to preserve her team's slim lead.
The Panthers continued to deny Redlands of any quality scoring chances but could not find the equalizing goal as the Bulldogs pulled off the comeback win.
Chapman will wrap up the season on Saturday when it visits league-leading Pomona-Pitzer at 11 a.m.
By Steven Olveda
Sports Information Director
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