SANTA BARBARA, Calif. – The UC Santa Barbara women's water polo team finished up its matches at the 2020 UCSB Winter Invitational, dropping a close contest to Michigan 9-7 before recording a heavy 19-2 victory against Ottawa on Sunday afternoon at Campus Pool.
No. 7 Michigan 9, No. 11 UCSB 7
Michigan led after the first quarter and maintained it throughout, despite several efforts from the Gauchos to come back.
Amanda Legaspi answered Michigan's opening goal at the 6:25 mark in the first quarter, but the Wolverines nabbed the next two goals to go up 3-1.
Sarah Snyder turned a Drew Halvorson pass into the cage to pull one back for UCSB, only for Michigan's Emily Ritner to score the final goal of the period for the visitors to lead 4-2 after the first period.
In the second quarter, Michigan sandwiched a goal between both of the UCSB goals in the period, scored by Kate Coski and Legaspi, and the score at the half had the Wolverines up 5-4.
UCSB converted just one of its four penalty shots in the game, and two of the misses came in the third quarter when the Gauchos were down by a goal.
Maddie O'Reilly capitalized on that and scored on the powerplay for Michigan with 1:50 left to end the quarter 6-4.
Coski brought the Gauchos back within one at the 6:44 mark of the fourth quarter, but Anne Rankin answered shortly afterward for Michigan to re-establish the two-goal cushion.
The Wolverines added another pair of goals midway through the quarter to lead 9-5, and the Gauchos couldn't get back within reach despite two late goals from Claire Kelly and Sarah Snyder.
No. 11 UCSB 19, Ottawa 2
The Gauchos scored the first seven goals of the game and four players recorded hat tricks as UCSB routed Ottawa in the final game of the tournament.
Caitlyn Snyder, Courtney Heydorff, and Evie Laptin each scored three goals, and Alex Mora finished with four, while Becca Buck made eight saves and Lucy Jackman made her debut in the fourth quarter, making one save.
Next up for the Gauchos is the Michigan Invite, beginning with their match against Indiana next Saturday, January 25 in Ann Arbor, Mich. The game will begin at 5:00 a.m. Pacific Time.
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