Women’s Water Polo: Cal edges ‘Eaters
STANFORD — The notion that Cal held on for a 6-5 victory over UC Irvine in the quarterfinals of the NCAA women’s water polo championship on Friday could easily be challenged by the viewpoint that the Anteaters, with untimely misplays, simply gave it away.
No. 5-seeded UCI, which was looking for its first victory over Cal, or any of the sport’s Big Four that also include UCLA, USC and Stanford, in 10 seasons, instead fell to 1-74 all-time against the sport’s aristocracy.
UCI (19-9) turned a 4-1 deficit into a 5-4 lead with 4:09 left in the third quarter at Stanford University’s Avery Aquatic Center. But from then on, the Anteaters managed just two shots and committed 11 of their 17 turnovers. All nine of UCI’s fourth-quarter possessions ended on turnovers, including two misguided passes and one that skipped under a would-be recipient. Another of the maddening miscues, all in the final four-plus minutes, occurred when the ball merely slipped out of a UCI attacker’s hand.
“The tough part to stomach is, we didn’t get shots off in the fourth quarter and we had great opportunities,” UCI Coach Dan Klatt said. “We dropped a couple balls right in front of the cage and we dropped a few balls on outside shots. I don’t know if we tensed up or were tired. I don’t know the reasons for it. But we certainly didn’t maximize our opportunities. We shot one ball [in the last 8:35], so it’s really challenging to try to win.”
UCI, which allowed one goal in a span of nearly 21 minutes to climb back into the contest, was held scoreless the final 12:08, after junior Kelsey Thornton converted an assist from junior Emily Carlson to break a 4-4 deadlock midway through the third quarter.
And Cal (20-7), which has now beaten UCI three times this season, simply kept taking its offensive opportunities after pulling even, 5-5, with 3:41 left in the third period.
“[The Golden Bears] shot nine times in the fourth quarter,” Klatt said. “And eventually one is going to find the net if you get nine vs. [zero].”
Adding excruciation to the agony for UCI was that Cal’s game-winning goal by senior Kelly McKee, capped a possession on which the Golden Bears (20-7) had three 30-second shot clocks. A rebound off a missed shot and possession after a second shot was tipped over the cage by UCI goalie Jillian Yocum, extended the marathon possession.
McKee netted her only goal from about 10 meters out after faking twice, then firing across-cage.
“I saw the goalie commit to my fakes, I knew I had some time to fake again and I just relaxed and saw that opening,” McKee said. “I just saw the cross-cage open, so I let it rip and it went in.”
Big West Conference Freshman of the Year Mary Brooks and Thornton led the ‘Eaters with two goals apiece, while sophomore Makenzie Milham also scored for UCI.
Brooks opened the scoring with an assist from senior Danielle Warde with 1:05 elapsed, but UCI went nearly nine minutes until it scored again to close to within 4-2.
Thornton’s first goal, on an assist from Carlson, knotted the score at 4-4 with 5:45 left in the eight-minute third quarter.
Cal’s last-quarter shot advantage gave it a 27-18 edge in that department. Yocum, a senior, made seven saves, including two point-blank rejections, but UCI defenders also had a handful of field blocks and deflections to divert Cal shots wide or high of the cage.
“I couldn’t be more proud of the effort,” Klatt said. “I really thought we came to play and we were on their best players almost all game long. We had a little bit of a slow start in terms of letting their best players get off in the beginning, but we cleaned that up. Then, over the next two and a half quarters, we held them scoreless for a really long time. We played great defense against a team with some unbelievable shooters.
“[Cal] kicked our butt a couple times earlier [February wins by 9-4 and 10-6 margins] and today we played as equals,” Klatt said. “We were well-prepared and we executed our game plan well. We just struggled to finish.”
UCI has some consolation in, well, the consolation portion of the tournament that assures each team three matches and determines placing for all eight squads.
“We still have an opportunity to be fifth in the country and I think that’s an awesome accomplishment to have,” Brooks said.
Klatt was also buoyed by the opportunity to play on, despite the disappointment of falling out of the championship bracket that includes No. 1-seeded UCLA, No. 2 Stanford and No. 3 USC.
“We have certain values that our program is about,” said Klatt, who has guided UCI to fourth-, fifth- and sixth-place showings in its three previous NCAA tournament appearances. “And we want our seniors to stay connected with what we’re doing these next two days and display values like resilience and pride, because that is what is most important. Certainly we came here to win a national championship and now that’s not going to happen. So, now we play for our values and for our program and we want to make sure we’re doing that the right way. I have every bit of confidence that our seniors will be all about that, and that they will lead us well into these next two games and attack them as a UCI team should.”
UCI meets UC San Diego (19-19) in the fifth-place semifinal on Saturday at 1:45 p.m.
Pippa Saunders, a junior defender out of Corona del Mar High, had two shots, in addition to her quality defense for Cal, whose roster also includes CdM product Genevieve Weed.