HONOLULU, Hawaii -- The No. 4 seeded UC Santa Barbara women's water polo team went for a dramatic finish Friday night in their Big West Tournament matchup against the fifth seed UC Davis Aggies. With time running down the Gauchos were unable to score the game-tying goal and fell to Davis 10-9 in Honolulu, Hawai'i.
Six different players scored for UCSB, as Bryn Hudson, Brenna Thomas, and Samantha Murphy each collected a pair of goals. Taylor Shore, Tess Wardle, and Jade Wentz-Fitzgerald also contributed to the offensive effort. Goalkeeper Mackenzie Brokaw had nine saves in the game, including five in the second quarter alone.
UCSB was first to strike in a first-quarter shootout that saw seven goals made between both teams. Sophomore attacker Taylor Shore successfully drove her shot into the back of the net to jumpstart the frenzy. The fourth minute consisted of the Gauchos and Aggies making two goals apiece. Bryn Hudson projected her throw over Aggies goalkeeper Jillian Wilding but UC Davis responded with a pair of their own goals to erase UCSB's early lead. Brenna Thomas reclaimed UCSB's edge for the moment until Aggie Keelia Houston notched the equalizer for her second goal of the quarter. Redshirt freshman Tess Wardle closed the action-packed beginning with her 13th goal of the season.
The remainder of the first half came to a quick close as the Aggies and Gauchos switched possessions numerous times, running down the clock. At the 4:50 mark, Davis again evened the score and a minute later took their first lead of the match to enter halftime up 5-4.
Resembling the opening of the game, the second half was also eventful with nine goals shot into the net. In the first thirty seconds, Thomas made a brilliant delivery to slip the ball past Wilding. Unfortunately, the Aggies would follow with a 3-0 run to take the upper hand and force UCSB to fight back the rest of the game. Junior Samantha Murphy would start the rally for the Gauchos when at the 4:44 mark she fired a booming shot to cut the deficit to 8-6. Hudson echoed Murphy's shot with her own goal seconds later. Refusing to let their lead go to waste, Davis situated themselves for another two points, once more piling the work on the Gauchos. In the waning seconds of the quarter, Jade Wentz-Fitzgerald made the score 10-8.
The closing eight minutes were a battle for UCSB to maintain the ball and create scoring opportunities over Davis' gritty defense. Timeouts were taken to slow the pace but the Aggies were not letting up. Murphy was finally able to break through in the last minute, however, it became too late to send the game into overtime and UCSB was defeated by UC Davis with a final 10-9 score.
The loss puts UCSB out of contention for the conference championship game, but will continue play Sunday for the fifth place game.
