NEWPORT BEACH – The ninth-ranked UC Santa Barbara women’s water polo team defeated UC San Diego for the first time this season in a 9-8 win at the Barbara Kalbus Invitational at Corona del Mar Pool on Friday afternoon.
For the first six goals of the game, the Gauchos scored and the Tritons responded. Goals from Amanda Legaspi, Kate Coski, and Sarah Snyder were met with replies from UCSD’s Grace Pevehouse, Karis Couch, and Sydney Boland, with the score tied at 3-3 with 6:06 remaining in the second quarter.
A pair of Sarah Snyder even-strength goals helped the Gauchos nab a 5-3 lead at the halfway mark of the second period.
Ciara Franke scored a five-meter penalty for UCSD to cut the lead back to one, but the Gauchos’ Claire Kelly did the same inside of the final 60 seconds of the half to restore Santa Barbara’s two-goal lead.
The Gauchos’ comfort in front of goal continued in the beginning of the third quarter, as Caitlyn Snyder assisted Kate Coski on a goal to put the Gauchos ahead by three.
Less than a minute after Coski’s strike, Pevehouse got her second goal of the game on the power play, but Mollie Simmons turned a Kelly pass into the cage to get the Gauchos back up 8-5.
Taylor Onstott scored three unanswered goals for UCSD, the first of which came with two seconds remaining in the third period, to tie the game up at 8-8 with 2:17 remaining in the final period.
Then, the Gauchos’ Sarah Owens managed to score what would be the eventual game-winner with just 1:06 remaining on the clock to lift the Gauchos to victory, avenging their earlier loss to the Tritons at the Triton Invitational on Feb. 8.