IRVINE – The UC Santa Barbara women’s water polo team fell to Michigan, 5-4. in the seventh-place game at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational on Sunday at the Anteater Aquatics Complex.
UCSB’s Amanda Legaspi gave the Gauchos the early lead, scoring 45 seconds into the matchup off a Mollie Simmons assist.
Maddie O’Reilly put away a penalty shot to tie things up with 5:40 left, and it would take nearly eight minutes for another goal to get past either of the netminders in the pool.
Finally, senior co-captain Sarah Snyder broke the game’s scoring drought with 4:54 remaining in the half, converting an assist from Caitlyn Snyder into a goal.
Michigan’s Erin Neustrom scored on the power play with nearly four minutes gone in the third quarter to even it up, before the Gauchos’ Alex Mora turned another Caitlyn Snyder pass into the go-ahead goal with 2:52 to go in the third.
Michigan’s Sofie Pontre and Neustrom scored the next pair of goals, giving the Wolverines their first lead of the game.
Senior co-captain Kate Coski found the equalizer with 5:35 remaining in regulation, but it was Neustrom that scored the eventual game-winner just over a minute later.
Goalkeeper Kenzi Snyder made seven saves in the contest.
Following a one-week break, the Gauchos’ season resumes on March 6 at the Claremont Convergence tournament, before opening Big West play against CSUN the following day.